George Mandler

Recognizing: The judgment of previous occurrence.

Several suggestions for a class of theories of recognition memory have been proposed during the past decade. These models address predictions about judgments of prior occurrence of an event, not the identification of what it is, The history and current status of one of these models is discussed. The model postulates the detection of familiarity and the utilization of retrieval mechanisms as additive and separate processes. The phenomenal experience of familiarity is assigned to intraevent organizational integrative processes; retrieval depends on interevent elaborative processes. Other current theoretical options are described, and relevant supportive data from the literature are reviewed. New tests of the model involving both free recall and word pair paradigms are presented. The dual process model is extended to the word frequency effect and to the recognition difficulties of amnesic patients. In general English usage the verb to recognize usually is denned as the act of perceiving something as previously known. It is an apparently clear as well as etymologically correct usage, that is, to know again. In this article the process of recognizing will be analyzed, but it will be restricted to the recognition of the prior occurrence of an event. This restriction follows psychological rather than common usage. Experimentation that addresses problems of recognition has typically required subjects to make judg. nents about prior encounters with some tar

The information that amnesic patients do not forget

The performance of three kinds of amnesic patients and control subjects was assessed using four methods for testing memory: free recall, recognition, cued recall, and word completion. Whereas amnesic patients were impaired on free recall, recognition, and cued recall, they were normal on word completion. Moreover, performance on the word-completion test declined at a normal rate reaching chance after about 120 min. The word-completion test resembled the cued-recall test in that the initial letters of previously presented words were given as cues. It differed from cued recall only in the instructions, which directed subjects away from the memory aspects of the test and asked them to complete each three-letter cue with the first word that came to mind. The present results offer an explanation of conflicting findings that have been obtained with amnesic patients on tests of the cued-recall type. The results are considered in terms of a process (activation or procedural learning), which is spared in amnesia and not dependent on the integrity of the damaged brain regions. Language: en

ACTIVATION MAKES WORDS MORE ACCESSIBLE, BUT NOT NECESSARILY MORE RETRIEVABLE

Three experiments compared different memory tests for words that were studied under either semantic or nonsemantic processing conditions. When the tests required the completion of the initial letters (e.g., DEF—) of recently presented words with the first word that came to mind, semantic and nonsemantic processing conditions produced similar results. In contrast, free recall, cued recall, and word recognition showed substantially better performance under semantic processing conditions. The rate of decrement in performance over time was the same for the completion and recognition tests. The findings are discussed in terms of two processes: (a) activation of a mental representation, which also strengthens the relations among its components and increases its accessibility, and (b) elaboration, which establishes relations among different mental contents and increases retrievability. Implications for different memory tests and for understanding the amnesic syndrome are developed.

Organization and Memory1

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates three general principles associated with organization and memory. First, memory and organization are not only correlated, but organization is a necessary condition for memory. Second, the organization of, and hence memory for, verbal material is hierarchical, with words organized in successively higher-order categories. And third, the storage capacity within any one category or within any level of categories is limited. Evidence from a large number of sources suggests that there are limitations on the capacity of the human organism for processing information. Memory consists of the recall of a limited number of chunks and retrieval of the contents of these chunks. In the sense of the unitization hypothesis and its elaborations, the process of memorization is a process of organization. Memorization or learning depends on organization and the organizational variables determine memory.

Effects of organization and semantic similarity on recall and recognition

Three experiments were performed to extend the previous finding that number of cate-gories (NC) in organized, categorized lists determines the number of words recalled. The NC also influences recognition both in immediate tests and in a delay of two weeks. False alarm rates in recognition are generally unaffected by the use of synonyms as fillers, suggesting that perceptual features of words are used at least in addition to semantic features. To accommodate the novel finding that organization affects recognition, a model for the case of subject-organized lists was presented which introduces the notion of a postrecognition retrieval check. Previous findings on the relation between NC and recall were replicated.

Out of one's mind: A study of involuntary semantic memories

The study of memories that pop into ones mind without any conscious attempt to retrieve them began only recently. While there are some studies on involuntary autobiographical memories (e.g., ) research on involuntary semantic memories or mind-popping is virtually non-existent. The latter is defined as an involuntary conscious occurrence of brief items of ones network of semantic knowledge. The recall of these items (e.g., a word, a name, a tune) is not accompanied by additional contextual information and/or involvement of self-a standard feature of involuntary autobiographical memories. The paper reports several diary and questionnaire studies which looked into the nature and frequency of occurrence of these memories. The data show that people do experience involuntary semantic memories which tend to occur without any apparent cues while being engaged in relatively automatic activities. Possible mechanisms of involuntary semantic memories are discussed (e.g., very long-term priming), and the results of the study provide information on the possible duration of the priming effects in everyday life. Related theoretical and methodological issues and future avenues of research in this neglected area are outlined.

Affect and Learning: Causes and Consequences of Emotional Interactions

Affect is the least investigated aspect of human problem solving, yet it is probably the aspect most often mentioned as deserving further investigation. The “problem-solving” and “teaching-and-learning” literature is full of remarks that have a single message: “Someday soon — maybe tomorrow — we must get around to doing something about affect and emotion.” I am delighted to see that “tomorrow” has come.

Retrieval processes in recognition

Retrieval processes in the long-term recognition of well organized material showed the expected organizational effects on “slow” recognition responses. Ss sorted 100 words into two to seven categories until a stable organization was achieved. The data showed the usual correlations between organization (number of categories used) and recall and recognition. Recognition tests a week after the sorting task revealed no differences between Ss using many or few categories for the “fast” recognition responses, defined as the faster 50% of each S’s latency distribution. The organizational effect was clearly evident for the “slow” 50% of the responses. The data support the retrieval check hypothesis in recognition under the assumption that retrieval operations take additional time during the recognition process.

Play it again, Sam: On Liking Music

Abstract Emotional responses to music are discussed in the context of a constructivist theory of emotion, which postulates evaluative cognitions that generate the quality of the experience, and autonomic (sympathetic) arousal that influences its intensity. Arousal is frequently generated by cognitive, pcrceptual, and behavioural discrepancies. Schema theory is used to describe the listeners knowledge of the complex structure of music. Schemas serve to interpret music as well as to produce expectations about its likely form and progression. When music is discrepant from the listeners expectations (as it often is), the concatenation of arousal and evaluation produces emotional experiences. This theoretical framework guides an interpretation of emotional responses to familiar and (physically) complex music, and suggests ways of understanding structural evaluations as well as effects of music that have their source outside of musical structure.

Prototypicality norms for 28 semantic categories

The extent to which an item is a prototypical exemplar of a category has been found to predict several experimental results (e.g., reaction times in category classification, free and cued recall of lists, release from proactive inhibition in recall). We present prototypicality ratings for 840 words, equally distributed over 28categories. Thecategories were taken from Battig and Montague’s (1969) normative tables; only those categories that contained “concrete” items in common usage were employed in the study. Intragroup reliability correlations were high for all categories tested, as were the correlations for prototypicality ratings between the present study and that of Rosch (1975). In addition, correlations between prototypicality ratings, production frequencies, and word frequencies of the items are given.