Ainat Pansky

Memory accuracy in old age: Cognitive, metacognitive, and neurocognitive determinants

Age differences in memory accuracy were examined within a conceptual framework specifying the mediating role of metacognitive monitoring and control processes (Koriat & Goldsmith, 1996b). Replicating previous results, older adults showed poorer memory quantity and accuracy performance compared to young adults. Even when memory quantity performance was equated, by dividing the young adults’ attention during encoding, the difference in memory accuracy was not eliminated. Examination of the underlying metacognitive processes revealed that the age-related reduction in memory accuracy stemmed partly from less effective memory monitoring, apparently the result of poorer encoding, and also from differences in two aspects of metacognitive control: (1) a more liberal report criterion—greater tendency to volunteer incorrect (and correct) answers, and (2) reduced control sensitivity—less reliance on subjective monitoring as a basis for responding. This latter control reduction was associated with lower neuropsychological measures of executive functioning, suggesting a decline in frontal-lobe efficiency.

Case alternation and length effects in lateralized word recognition: studies of English and Hebrew

Effects of CaSe AlTeRnAtIoN were studied in two lateralized visual lexical decision experiments. We manipulated word length and letter case (UPPER, lower and MiXeD) in both English (Exp. 1, N=60) and Hebrew (Exp. 2, N=60). The previously reported visual field and word length interaction was found for upper and lower case presentation, but not for MiXeD CaSe, where both fields were affected by word length. The effects of case alternation are discussed in light of a new lateralized word recognition theory.

The Basic-Level Convergence Effect in Memory Distortions

Whereas most previous findings suggest that memory may become more abstract over time, so that memory for gist outlasts verbatim memory, there are findings suggesting that abstract information may sometimes be instantiated in more specific terms. In this study, we examined the hypothesis that retained information tends to converge at an intermediate level of abstractness—the basic level. In two experiments, we found bidirectional, symmetrical shifts in the memory for story material: Participants presented with either subordinate terms (e.g., sports car) or superordinate terms (e.g., vehicle) tended to falsely report basic-level terms (e.g., car) instead. This pattern emerged for both recall and recognition memory tests, at both immediate and delayed testing, and under free and forced reporting. The results suggest that the basic level, which has been considered cognitively optimal for perception, categorization, and communication, is also the preferred level for retaining episodic information in memory.

Metacognitive effects of initial question difficulty on subsequent memory performance

In two experiments, we examined whether relative retrieval fluency (the relative ease or difficulty of answering questions from memory) would be translated, via metacognitive monitoring and control processes, into an overt effect on the controlled behavior—that is, the decision whether to answer a question or abstain. Before answering a target set of multiple-choice general-knowledge questions (intermediate-difficulty questions in Exp. 1, deceptive questions in Exp. 2), the participants first answered either a set of difficult questions or a set of easy questions. For each question, they provided a forced-report answer, followed by a subjective assessment of the likelihood that their answer was correct (confidence) and by a free-report control decision—whether or not to report the answer for a potential monetary bonus (or penalty). The participants’ ability to answer the target questions (forced-report proportion correct) was unaffected by the initial question difficulty. However, a predicted metacognitive contrast effect was observed: When the target questions were preceded by a set of difficult rather than easy questions, the participants were more confident in their answers to the target questions, and hence were more likely to report them, thus increasing the quantity of freely reported correct information. The option of free report was more beneficial after initial question difficulty than after initial question ease, in terms of both the gain in accuracy (Exp. 2) and a smaller cost in quantity (Exps. 1 and 2). These results demonstrate that changes in subjective experience can influence metacognitive monitoring and control, thereby affecting free-report memory performance independently of forced-report performance.

Interactions between spontaneous instantiations to the basic level and post-event suggestions

Extensive research shows that post-event suggestions can distort the memory for a target event. In this study we examined the effect of such suggestions as they interact with the products of a spontaneous memory process: instantiation of abstract information to an intermediate level of abstractness, the basic level (Pansky & Koriat, 2004). Participants read a narrative containing items presented at the superordinate level (e.g., FRUIT), were exposed to suggestions that referred to these items at the basic level (e.g., APPLE), and were finally asked to recall the original items. We found that the tendency to instantiate spontaneously in the control (non-misleading) condition, particularly over time, increased following exposure to suggestions that were likely to coincide with those instantiations. Exposure to such suggestions, either immediately or following a 24-hour delay, reduced subsequent correct recall of the original items only if the suggested information coincided with the information one tends to instantiate spontaneously in a given context. Suggestibility, in this case, was particularly pronounced and phenomenologically compelling in terms of remember/know judgements. The findings are taken to imply that effects of post-event suggestions can be understood in terms of the constructive processes that set the stage for their occurrence.

Positive and negative effects of gender expertise on episodic memory

In two experiments, we examined the role of differential levels of knowledge between the genders in different domains, which we term gender expertise, in accounting for differences in episodic memory performance. In Experiment 1, we validated the assumption of differential gender expertise among men and women and selected the categories for the subsequent experiments. In Experiment 2, participants from both genders studied exemplars from these female-oriented, male-oriented, and gender-neutral categories and were tested after 24 hours on studied items, critical lures, and unrelated lures. A gender-congruity effect was found in terms of the recognition rates of both studied items and critical lures: Participants from each gender recognized more studied items and more critical lures from gender-congruent categories than from gender-incongruent categories. A parallel pattern of results was found for subjective confidence, supporting the notion that gender congruity enhanced the phenomenological experience that an item was studied. Our findings highlight the unique role of gender expertise in accounting for gender-congruity effects in episodic memory performance, using a well-defined operationalization of gender expertise. These findings show that in addition to benefits in terms of enhancing true memory, gender expertise also has a “dark side” of increasing false memories.