The Relation Between Attention and Memory.

The relation between attention and memory has long been deemed important for understanding cognition, and it was heavily researched even in the first experimental psychology laboratory by Wilhelm Wundt and his colleagues. Since then, the importance of the relation between attention and memory has been explored in myriad subdisciplines of psychology, and we incorporate a wide range of these diverse fields. Here, we examine some of the practical consequences of this relation and summarize work with various methodologies relating attention to memory in the fields of working memory, long-term memory, individual differences, life-span development, typical brain function, and neuropsychological conditions. We point out strengths and unanswered questions for our own embedded processes view of information processing, which is used to organize a large body of evidence. Last, we briefly consider the relation of the evidence to a range of other theoretical views before drawing conclusions about the state of the field.

Short- and long-term influences of repeated speech examples on segmentation in an unfamiliar language analog.

Because segments in fluent speech (e.g., words and phrases) are not reliably separated by pauses, a key task when listening to an unfamiliar language is to parse the incoming speech into segments to be learned. We aim to understand how working memory contributes to that segmentation learning. One cue to segmentation occurs when a segment is repeated in varying contexts. Cowan (Acta Psychologica, 77(2), 121-135, 1991) explored a language analog to study how segmentation occurs during immediate memory of speech, and found effects of segment presentation frequency, stimulus length, and serial position. Here we ask whether those effects extend from working memory to long-term memory. Overlapping segments were presented (e.g., mah bar slo mi and slo mi geh), varying numbers of times (presentation frequencies) to determine how varying the schedule of repetition patterns would affect perception of a unified test pattern formed from the two of them (e.g., mah bar slo mi geh). These constructions provide an analogy to how segments occur in varying contexts in speech. Participants were to indicate where they heard the boundaries between syllables. In immediate memory, the perceived boundaries more often reflected the most frequently presented pattern, and often reflected both pattern boundaries (in this example, mah bar / slo mi / geh). In a long-term memory follow-up, however, the original presentation frequencies only mattered for certain short test pattern configurations. We suggest that working memory for speech, without a semantic component, may be an incomplete basis to learn longer segments in an unfamiliar language.

Short-term retention of words as a function of encoding depth.

The traditional short- and long-term storage view of information processing and the levels-of-processing view both discuss the forgetting of information over time. In the traditional stage view, there is loss of at least poorly encoded information across several seconds when the information cannot be rehearsed (e.g., Ricker et al., 2020, Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 46, 60-76). In the levels-of-processing approach, information that is encoded in a shallow manner is lost more quickly over time than deeply-encoded information (Craik & Lockhart, 1972, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 671-684.). Previous studies of the depth of encoding, however, have mostly been conducted using delayed tests, so there are few studies directly comparing the rate of forgetting over time for information as a function of different depths of encoding. We manipulated the level of processing with immediate recall in a modified Brown-Peterson task. An effect of the level of processing was robust, but evidence of forgetting across retention intervals was not always observed. When encoding time was curtailed (in Experiments 3 and 4), we found main effects of both the level of processing and the retention interval, but no interaction between the two variables. The results suggest that the depth-of-encoding effect may occur during the initial encoding of items, but without differential forgetting within the range of retention intervals that we examined (0-18 s), in contrast to the suggestion by Craik and Lockhart. Further work is needed to determine whether the depth-of-processing effect would grow over longer intervals.

Working memory limitations constrain visual episodic long-term memory at both specific and gist levels of representation.

Limitations in one's capacity to encode information in working memory (WM) constrain later access to that information in long-term memory (LTM). The present study examined whether these WM constraints on episodic LTM are limited to specific representations of past episodes or also extend to gist representations. Across three experiments, young adult participants (n = 40 per experiment) studied objects in set sizes of two or six items, either sequentially (Experiments 1a and 1b) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). They then completed old/new recognition tests immediately after each sequence (WM tests). After a long study phase, participants completed LTM conjoint recognition tests, featuring old but untested items from the WM phase, lures that were similar to studied items at gist but not specific levels of representation, and new items unrelated to studied items at both specific and gist levels of representation. Results showed that LTM estimates of specific and gist memory representations from a multinomial-processing-tree model were reduced for items encoded under supra-capacity set sizes (six items) relative to within-capacity set sizes (two items). These results suggest that WM encoding capacity limitations constrain episodic LTM at both specific and gist levels of representation, at least for visual objects. The ability to retrieve from LTM each type of representation for a visual item is contingent on the degree to which the item could be encoded in WM.

Can synchronised tones facilitate immediate memory for printed lists?

In verbal list recall, adding features redundant with the ones to be recalled theoretically could assist recall, by providing additional retrieval cues, or it could impede recall, by draining attention away from the features to be recalled. We examined young adults' immediate memory of lists of printed digits when these lists were sometimes accompanied by synchronised, concurrent tones, one per digit. Unlike most previous irrelevant-sound effects, the tones were not asynchronous with the printed items, which can corrupt the episodic record, and did not repeat within a list. Memory of the melody might bring to mind the associated digits like lyrics in a song. Sometimes there were instructions to sing the digits covertly in the tone pitches. In three experiments, there was no evidence that these methods enhanced memory. Instead, there appeared to be a distraction effect from the synchronised tones, as in the irrelevant sound effect with asynchronised tones.

Children's long-term retention is directly constrained by their working memory capacity limitations.

We explored the causal role of individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity in long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Our sample of 160 participants included 120 children (6-13-years old) and 40 young adults (18-24 years). Participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items, presented at varying set sizes. Subsequently, we tested participants' LTM for items from the WM task. Using these measures, we estimated the ratio at which items successfully held in WM were recognized in LTM. While WM and LTM generally improved with age, the ability to transfer information from WM to LTM appeared consistent between age groups. Moreover, individual differences in WM capacity appeared to predict LTM encoding. Overall, these results suggested that LTM performance was constrained by experimental, individual, and age-related WM limitations. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck.

Backward recall and foreknowledge of recall direction: a test of the Encoding-Retrieval Matching Hypothesis.

When participants must recall a sequence of items in reverse order just after their presentation, inconsistent findings have been observed relative to when participants must recall a sequence in their presentation order. Recently, the Encoding-Retrieval Matching Hypothesis (ERM) has been developed to account for these inconsistencies. Within the ERM hypothesis, foreknowledge of recall direction plays an important role. In two experiments, we tested a key prediction of the ERM hypothesis: In backward recall with foreknowledge of recall direction, the size of the effect will vary as a function of its reliance on visuospatial representations. Participants performed an immediate serial recall task with digits. As predicted, the detrimental effect of manual-spatial tapping was larger in backward recall relative to forward recall when recall direction was predictable (Experiment 1b), but not when it was unpredictable (Experiment 1a). In Experiment 2, the word length effect, not relying on visuospatial representations, was equally large in forward and backward recall, and it was unaffected by foreknowledge of recall direction. Overall, the results support the predictions derived from the ERM hypothesis and contribute to the delineation of when and how foreknowledge can influence backward recall performance relative to forward recall performance.

Do we use visual codes when information is not presented visually?

For many years, the working/short-term memory literature has been dominated by the study of phonological codes. Consequently, insufficient attention has been devoted to visual codes. In the present study, we attempt to remedy the situation by exploring a critical aspect of modern models of working memory, namely the principle that responses do not depend primarily on what kinds of materials are presented, but on what kinds of codes are generated from those materials. More specifically, we used the visual similarity effect as a tool to ask whether there is a generation of visual codes when information is not presented visually. In two immediate serial recall experiments, we manipulated the visual similarity (similar words, dissimilar words), the presentation modality (visual presentation, auditory presentation), and concurrent articulation (none, concurrent articulation). We observed a visual similarity effect independent of presentation modality. Comparable results were observed with two different sets of stimuli and with or without concurrent articulation. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrate that, from acoustically presented word lists, visual codes in working/short-term memory are generated, producing a visual similarity effect. It is now clear that the encoding of visual or acoustic presentation to include the opposite type of representation is bidirectional.

Forward and backward recall: Different visuospatial processes when you know what's coming.

In an immediate memory task, when participants are asked to recall list items in reverse order, benchmark memory phenomena found with more typical forward recall are not consistently reproduced. These inconsistencies have been attributed to the greater involvement of visuospatial representations in backward than in forward recall at the point of retrieval. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis with a dual-task paradigm in which manual-spatial tapping and dynamic visual noise were used as the interfering tasks. The interference task was performed during list presentation or at recall. In the first four experiments, recall direction was only communicated at the point of recall. In Experiments 1 and 2, fewer words were recalled with manual tapping than in the control condition. However, the detrimental effect of manual tapping did not vary as a function of recall direction or processing stage. In Experiment 3, dynamic visual noise did not influence recall performance. In Experiment 4, articulatory suppression was performed on all trials and manual tapping was added on half of them. As in the first two experiments, manual tapping disputed forward and backward recall to the same extent. In Experiment 5, recall direction was known before list presentation. As predicted by the visuospatial hypothesis, when manual tapping was performed during recall, its detrimental effect was limited to backward recall. Overall, results can be explained by calling upon a modified version of the visuospatial hypothesis.

Visual similarity effects in immediate serial recall and (sometimes) in immediate serial recognition.

Words that sound dissimilar are recalled better than otherwise comparable words that sound similar on both immediate serial recall and immediate serial recognition tests, the so-called acoustic similarity effect. Although studies using immediate serial recall have shown an analogous visual similarity effect, in which words that look dissimilar are recalled better than words that look similar, this effect has not been examined in immediate serial recognition. We derived a prediction from the Feature Model that a visual similarity effect will be observed in immediate serial recognition only when the items are acoustically dissimilar; the model predicts no effect when the items are acoustically similar. Experiments 1 and 2 used visually dissimilar and visually similar stimuli that were all acoustically similar and replicated the visual similarity effect in serial recall but revealed no effect in serial recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 used a second set of stimuli that were acoustically dissimilar and found a visual similarity effect in both serial recall and serial recognition. The experiments confirm the Feature Model's predictions and add to earlier findings that the two tests, serial recall and serial recognition, may show quite different results because the two tests are not as similar as previously thought.

The word length effect in backward recall: the role of response modality.

In immediate serial recall, it is well known that participants are better at recalling short rather than long words. This benchmark memory effect, known as word length effect, has been observed numerous times in forward recall. However, in backward recall, when participants are required to recall items in the reverse order, contradictory findings have been reported. For instance, in some studies, the word length effect was abolished in backward recall, whereas in others it was maintained. In the present study, we investigated the role of response modality in accounting for this discrepancy. Our results showed that in forward recall, the word length effect is unaffected by response modality. In backward recall with a manual response (click or written), the word length effect is as large as in forward recall. Critically, when participants recalled a word orally, the word length effect was severely reduced in backward recall. We concluded that response modality interacts with the processes called upon in backward recall.

Dissociating visuo-spatial and verbal working memory: It's all in the features.

Echoing many of the themes of the seminal work of Atkinson and Shiffrin (The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 2; 89-195, 1968), this paper uses the feature model (Nairne, Memory & Cognition, 16, 343-352, 1988; Nairne, Memory & Cognition, 18; 251-269, 1990; Neath & Nairne, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2; 429-441, 1995) to account for performance in working-memory tasks. The Brooks verbal and visuo-spatial matrix tasks were performed alone, with articulatory suppression, or with a spatial suppression task; the results produced the expected dissociation. We used approximate Bayesian computation techniques to fit the feature model to the data and showed that the similarity-based interference process implemented in the model accounted for the data patterns well. We then fit the model to data from Guérard and Tremblay (2008, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 556-569); the latter study produced a double dissociation while calling upon more typical order reconstruction tasks. Again, the model performed well. The findings show that a double dissociation can be modelled without appealing to separate systems for verbal and visuo-spatial processing. The latter findings are significant as the feature model had not been used to model this type of dissociation before; importantly, this is also the first time the model is quantitatively fit to data. For the demonstration provided here, modularity was unnecessary if two assumptions were made: (1) the main difference between spatial and verbal working-memory tasks is the features that are encoded; (2) secondary tasks selectively interfere with primary tasks to the extent that both tasks involve similar features. It is argued that a feature-based view is more parsimonious (see Morey, 2018, Psychological Bulletin, 144, 849-883) and offers flexibility in accounting for multiple benchmark effects in the field.

Does neighborhood size really cause the word length effect?

In short-term serial recall, it is well-known that short words are remembered better than long words. This word length effect has been the cornerstone of the working memory model and a benchmark effect that all models of immediate memory should account for. Currently, there is no consensus as to what determines the word length effect. Jalbert and colleagues (Jalbert, Neath, Bireta, & Surprenant, 2011a; Jalbert, Neath, & Surprenant, 2011b) suggested that neighborhood size is one causal factor. In six experiments we systematically examined their suggestion. In Experiment 1, with an immediate serial recall task, multiple word lengths, and a large pool of words controlled for neighborhood size, the typical word length effect was present. In Experiments 2 and 3, with an order reconstruction task and words with either many or few neighbors, we observed the typical word length effect. In Experiment 4 we tested the hypothesis that the previous abolition of the word length effect when neighborhood size was controlled was due to a confounded factor: frequency of orthographic structure. As predicted, we reversed the word length effect when using short words with less frequent orthographic structures than the long words, as was done in both of Jalbert et al.'s studies. In Experiments 5 and 6, we again observed the typical word length effect, even if we controlled for neighborhood size and frequency of orthographic structure. Overall, the results were not consistent with the predictions of Jalbert et al. and clearly showed a large and reliable word length effect after controlling for neighborhood size.

The orthographic/phonological neighbourhood size effect and set size.

A growing number of studies have shown that on serial recall tests, words with more orthographic/phonological neighbours are better recalled than otherwise comparable words with fewer neighbours, the so-called neighbourhood size effect. Greeno et al. replicated this result when using a large stimulus pool but found a reverse neighbourhood size effect-better recall of words with fewer rather than more neighbours-when using a small stimulus pool. We report three registered experiments that further examine the role of set size in the neighbourhood size effect. Experiment 1 used the large pool from Greeno et al. and replicated their finding of a large-neighbourhood advantage. Experiment 2 used the small pool from Greeno et al. but found no difference in recall between the large and small neighbourhood conditions. Experiment 3 also used a small pool but the small pool was randomly generated for each subject from the large pool used in Experiment 1. This resulted in a typical large neighbourhood advantage. We suggest that set size is not critical to the direction of the neighbourhood size effect, with a large neighbourhood advantage appearing with both small and large pools.

Set size and the orthographic/phonological neighbourhood size effect in serial recognition: The importance of randomization.

The neighbourhood size effect refers to the finding of better memory for words with more orthographic/phonological neighbours than otherwise comparable words with fewer neighbours. Although many studies have replicated this result with serial recall, only one has used serial recognition. Greeno et al. (2022) found no neighbourhood size effect when a large stimulus pool was used and a reverse effect-better performance for small neighbourhood words-when a small stimulus pool was used. We reexamined these results but made two methodological changes. First, for the large pool, we randomly generated lists for each subject rather than creating one set of lists that all subjects experienced. Second, for the small pool, we randomly generated a small pool for each subject rather than using one small pool for all subjects. In both cases, we observed a neighbourhood size effect consistent with results from the serial recall literature. Implications for methodology and theoretical accounts of both the neighbourhood size effect and serial recognition are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Production Effect Becomes Spatial.

In the verbal domain, it is well established that words read aloud are better remembered than their silently read counterparts. It has been hypothesized that this production effect stems from the addition of distinctive features, with the caveat that the processing that generates added features interferes with rehearsal. Here, we tested the idea that a similar trade-off is found in the visuospatial domain. In all experiments, a short series of single dots sequentially appeared at various locations on a screen. Participants produced the items by clicking on them at presentation, watched the items appear quietly, or produced an irrelevant click after each item to better even out rehearsal opportunities between produced and control conditions. In Experiment 1, the dots appeared within a visible grid and an order reconstruction task was used. Experiment 2 also called upon reconstruction, but with the grid removed. In Experiments 3, a recall task was used. The results show that producing items hindered performance compared to the control condition. Conversely, production improved performance compared to the control condition where rehearsal was hindered. This is the first demonstration of a visuospatial production effect. The key findings were successfully modeled by the Revised Feature Model (RFM).

A lifespan study of the confidence-accuracy relation in working memory and episodic long-term memory.

The relation between an individual's memory accuracy and reported confidence in their memories can indicate self-awareness of memory strengths and weaknesses. We provide a lifespan perspective on this confidence-accuracy relation, based on two previously published experiments with 320 participants, including children aged 6-13, young adults aged 18-27, and older adults aged 65-77, across tests of working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM). Participants studied visual items in arrays of varying set sizes and completed item recognition tests featuring 6-point confidence ratings either immediately after studying each array (WM tests) or following a long period of study events (LTM tests). Confidence-accuracy characteristic analyses showed that accuracy improved with increasing confidence for all age groups and in both WM and LTM tests. These findings reflect a universal ability across the lifespan to use awareness of the strengths and limitations of one's memories to adjust reported confidence. Despite this age invariance in the confidence-accuracy relation, however, young children were more prone to high-confidence memory errors than other groups in tests of WM, whereas older adults were more susceptible to high-confidence false alarms in tests of LTM. Thus, although participants of all ages can assess when their memories are weaker or stronger, individuals with generally weaker memories are less adept at this confidence-accuracy calibration. Findings also speak to potential different sources of high-confidence memory errors for young children and older adults, relative to young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Give me enough time to rehearse: presentation rate modulates the production effect.

This paper uses the production effect to test one of the important predictions of a view of memory that is embodied in the Revised Feature Model (RFM). When to-be-recalled lists contain items both read aloud and silently, words read aloud are less well recalled at the beginning of the list and better recalled at the end. According to the RFM, producing the items by reading them aloud adds distinctive features which supports recall, but production also interferes with rehearsal - a process that operates more significantly at the start of a list. This critical role assigned to rehearsal has never been systematically tested. We do this here through a systematic literature review and an experiment that manipulates presentation rate. With a faster presentation rate, rehearsal is less likely; the implication is that the advantage observed for silently read items in the primacy positions should vanish, while the recency advantage for produced items should remain. The systematic review collected an initial sample of 422 unique articles on the production effect in immediate serial recall and revealed the predicted pattern. In addition, in our experiment, the presentation rate was manipulated within an immediate serial recall task (500, 1,000, and 2,000 ms/word). As predicted, the recency advantage for produced items was observed for all presentation speeds. Critically, the production disadvantage for early serial positions was only present for the two slowest rates, but not at the fastest speed. Results were successfully modeled by calling upon the RFM.

Attention allocation between item and order information in short-term memory.

In immediate memory for verbal lists, recently it has been shown that participants can choose to carry out encoding that prioritises readiness for an item test at some cost to order information or, conversely, that prioritises readiness for an order test at a cost to item information. Here, we ask whether participants can control attention to items and order in a graded fashion. We examined this issue by manipulating the percentage of order or item test trials participants would receive in a block (for each type of test, 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the trials in a block). Overall, the results revealed that participants were able to allocate their attention in a fine-grained manner that took into account the trial distribution within the block. However, there was a difference between the effects of allocating attention to item versus order. Divided attention, compared with full attention to one attribute, had an asymmetry, such that divided attention impaired order performance more than item performance. The exact point at which this asymmetry could be seen differed between two experiments, which included different item tests (fragment completion vs. free recall). The results suggest a common resource for item and order encoding and/or retention in working memory, which can be voluntarily allocated to different mixtures of these two attributes.