Mark J. Huff

An Abundance of Riches: Cross-Task Comparisons of Semantic Richness Effects in Visual Word Recognition

There is considerable evidence (e.g., Pexman et al., 2008) that semantically rich words, which are associated with relatively more semantic information, are recognized faster across different lexical processing tasks. The present study extends this earlier work by providing the most comprehensive evaluation to date of semantic richness effects on visual word recognition performance. Specifically, using mixed effects analyses to control for the influence of correlated lexical variables, we considered the impact of number of features, number of senses, semantic neighborhood density, imageability, and body–object interaction across five visual word recognition tasks: standard lexical decision, go/no-go lexical decision, speeded pronunciation, progressive demasking, and semantic classification. Semantic richness effects could be reliably detected in all tasks of lexical processing, indicating that semantic representations, particularly their imaginal and featural aspects, play a fundamental role in visual word recognition. However, there was also evidence that the strength of certain richness effects could be flexibly and adaptively modulated by task demands, consistent with an intriguing interplay between task-specific mechanisms and differentiated semantic processing.

When Does Memory Monitoring Succeed Versus Fail? Comparing Item-Specific and Relational Encoding in the DRM Paradigm

We compared the effects of item-specific versus relational encoding on recognition memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm. In Experiment 1, we directly compared item-specific and relational encoding instructions, whereas in Experiments 2 and 3 we biased pleasantness and generation tasks, respectively, toward one or the other type of processing. A read condition was tested in each experiment for comparison purposes. Across experiments, item-specific and relational encoding both boosted correct recognition relative to reading, but only item-specific encoding typically reduced false recognition. Signal-detection measures revealed that less information was encoded about critical items after item-specific than after relational encoding. In contrast, item-specific and relational encoding led to equivalent increases in strategic monitoring at test (e.g., use of a distinctiveness heuristic). Thus, monitoring at test was less successful after relational than item-specific encoding because more information had been encoded about critical lures.

The effects of initial testing on false recall and false recognition in the social contagion of memory paradigm

In three experiments, participants studied photographs of common household scenes. Following study, participants completed a category-cued recall test without feedback (Exps. 1 and 3), a category-cued recall test with feedback (Exp. 2), or a filler task (no-test condition). Participants then viewed recall tests from fictitious previous participants that contained erroneous items presented either one or four times, and then completed final recall and source recognition tests. The participants in all conditions reported incorrect items during final testing (a social contagion effect), and across experiments, initial testing had no impact on false recall of erroneous items. However, on the final source-monitoring recognition test, initial testing had a protective effect against false source recognition: Participants who were initially tested with and without feedback on category-cued initial tests attributed fewer incorrect items to the original event on the final source-monitoring recognition test than did participants who were not initially tested. These data demonstrate that initial testing may protect individuals’ memories from erroneous suggestions.

Age-related differences in guessing on free and forced recall tests.

This study examined possible age-related differences in recall, guessing, and metacognition on free recall tests and forced recall tests. Participants studied categorised and unrelated word lists and were asked to recall the items under one of the following test conditions: standard free recall, free recall with a penalty for guessing, free recall with no penalty for guessing, or forced recall. The results demonstrated interesting age differences regarding the impact of liberal test instructions (i.e., forced recall and no penalty) relative to more conservative test instructions (i.e., standard free recall and penalty) on memory performance. Specifically, once guessing was controlled, younger adults’ recall of categorised lists varied in accordance with test instructions while older adults’ recall of categorised lists did not differ between conservative and liberal test instructions, presumably because older adults approach standard free recall tests of categorised lists with a greater propensity towards guessing than young adults.

The effects of mediated word lists on false recall and recognition

False memory effects were explored using unrelated list items (e.g., slope, reindeer, corn) that were related to mediators (e.g., ski, sleigh, flake) that all converged upon a single nonpresented critical item (CI; e.g., snow). In Experiment 1, participants completed either an initial recall test or arithmetic problems after study, followed by a final recognition test. Participants did not falsely recall CIs on the initial test; however, false alarms to CIs did occur in recognition, but only following an initial recall test. In Experiment 2, participants were instructed to guess the CI, followed by a recognition test. The results replicated Experiment 1, with an increase in CI false alarms. Experiment 3 controlled for item effects by replacing unrelated recognition items from Experiment 1 with both CIs and list items from nonpresented lists. Once again, CI false alarms were found when controlling for lexical characteristics, demonstrating that mediated false memory is not due simply to item differences.

Effects of distinctive encoding on correct and false memory:A meta-analytic review of costs and benefits and their origins in the DRM paradigm

We review and meta-analyze how distinctive encoding alters encoding and retrieval processes and, thus, affects correct and false recognition in the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Reductions in false recognition following distinctive encoding (e.g., generation), relative to a nondistinctive read-only control condition, reflected both impoverished relational encoding and use of a retrieval-based distinctiveness heuristic. Additional analyses evaluated the costs and benefits of distinctive encoding in within-subjects designs relative to between-group designs. Correct recognition was design independent, but in a within design, distinctive encoding was less effective at reducing false recognition for distinctively encoded lists but more effective for nondistinctively encoded lists. Thus, distinctive encoding is not entirely “cost free” in a within design. In addition to delineating the conditions that modulate the effects of distinctive encoding on recognition accuracy, we discuss the utility of using signal detection indices of memory information and memory monitoring at test to separate encoding and retrieval processes.

Interpolated task effects on direct and mediated false recognition: effects of initial recall, recognition, and the ironic effect of guessing.

In two experiments, participants studied two types of word lists. Direct lists were taken from the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm (e.g., water, bridge, run) and contained words directly related to a nonpresented critical item (CI; e.g., river, Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Mediated lists (e.g., faucet, London, jog) contained words related to the CI through a nonpresented mediator. After each study list, participants completed either a recall test, a recall test with a warning about the CI, arithmetic problems, or a recognition test, or they guessed the CI. On a final recognition test, both warning and guessing decreased direct false recognition but increased mediated false recognition, an ironic effect of guessing. An initial recognition test also increased final mediated false recognition. We argue that warning and guessing tasks strengthened associative pathways to the CI, increased the accessibility of associated mediators, and increased monitoring for the CI at test. Increased monitoring was able to reduce CIs from direct, but not mediated, lists.

Reducing the Misinformation Effect Through Initial Testing: Take Two Tests and Recall Me in the Morning?

Summary Initial retrieval of an event can reduce peoples susceptibility to misinformation. We explored whether protective effects of initial testing could be obtained on final free recall and source‐monitoring tests. After studying six household scenes (e.g., a bathroom), participants attempted to recall items from the scenes zero, one, or two times. Immediately or after a 48‐hour delay, non‐presented items (e.g., soap and toothbrush) were exposed zero, one, or four times through a social contagion manipulation in which participants reviewed sets of recall tests ostensibly provided by other participants. A protective effect of testing emerged on a final free recall test following the delay and on a final source‐memory test regardless of delay. Taking two initial tests did not increase these protective effects. Determining whether initial testing will have protective (versus harmful) effects on memory has important practical implications for interviewing eyewitnesses.

List blocking and longer retention intervals reveal an influence of gist processing for lexically ambiguous critical lures

In two experiments, we examined veridical and false memory for lists of associates from two meanings (e.g., stumble, trip, harvest, pumpkin, etc.) that converged upon a single, lexically ambiguous critical lure (e.g., fall), in order to compare the activation-monitoring and fuzzy-trace false memory accounts. In Experiment 1, we presented study lists that were blocked or alternated by meaning (within subjects), followed by a free recall test completed immediately or after a 2.5-min delay. Correct recall was greater for blocked than for alternated lists. Critical-lure false recall was greater for blocked lists on an immediate test, whereas both list types produced equivalent false recall on a delayed test. In Experiment 2, lists blocked and alternated by meaning were presented via a between-subjects design, in order to eliminate possible list-type carryover effects. Correct recall replicated the result from Experiment 1; however, blocking lists increased false recall on delayed, but not on immediate, tests. Across the experiments, clustering correct recall by meaning increased across the delay selectively for the alternated lists. Our results suggest that thematic (i.e., gist) processes are influential for false recall, especially following a delay, a pattern consistent with fuzzy-trace theory.

Task-switching errors show sensitivity to preclinical Alzheimer's disease biomarkers

identify early presymptomatic change and could also be a measure of disease progression. This study therefore investigates retinal changes in both presymptomatic and symptomatic subjects across all three genetic mutations (GRN, MAPT, C9orf72). Methods:We have recruited nine cases so far including two affected participants (2 C9orf72 mutations) and 7 presymptomatic participants: 4 mutation positive gene carriers and 3 mutation negative controls. We measured automated peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness acquired using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Optos OCT SLO) and averaged the RNFL thickness of all interpretable scans. Results: Average RNFL thickness for affected cases was 88.5 (standard deviation (sd) 1⁄4 2.1) mm. For the presymptomatic cases average RNFL thickness was 103.8 (8.0) mm for mutation positive carriers and 106.0 (10.2) mm for mutation negative controls. Conclusions: Preliminary analysis suggests that RNFL thinning may be seen in symptomatic genetic FTD. There is also a trend for decreased thickness in mutation positive carriers although this was not significantly different from controls. Further analysis in a larger group is needed to see at what point abnormalities may be seen during the presymptomatic phase and whether there are differences between the different genetic groups.