Matthew B. Reysen

Part-set cuing of false memories

Part-set cuing inhibition describes the common finding that re-presenting items from a word list can reduce subjects’ overall recall performance for studied items. Do part-set cuing effects occur for false memories as well? In the present experiments, subjects studied lists of words drawn from Roediger and McDermott (1995). After studying each list, subjects completed math problems and then recalled the list items either with or without accompanying list cues. In Experiment 1, the recall cues consisted of items drawn randomly from the original list. In Experiment 2, an additional type of cued recall task was added in which the even numbered list items were used as cues. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate robust part-set cuing effects for critical nonpresented items. In addition, they show that whereas recall of critical words is reduced by the presence of cues at test, retrieval cues do not affect critical words and studied words in exactly the same manner.

The effects of social pressure on group recall

In two experiments, individual subjects worked in conjunction with two perceived group members to recall six 30-item categorized word lists. The perceived group members’ recall levels were manipulated to establish either high or low group standards. After participating in the perceived group, subjects completed a surprise final individual recall test that covered all of the presented material. On the basis of the hypothesis that the subjects’ performance would be affected by social pressure, it was predicted that subjects working in high-performing groups would recall more words than subjects working in low-performing groups on both the group recall tests and the final individual recall test. These predicted results were observed. Thus, a complete analysis of the group recall environment should include a consideration of conformity theory whereby subjects’ memories can be affected by their group members’ output levels.

The effects of social pressure on false memories

The present experiments were designed to examine the effects of social pressure on false memories. Participants studied lists created to elicit false memories and then worked in conjunction with virtual confederates on a recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, participants worked with one or two confederates to complete multiple study—test trials. On the group tests, participants were implicitly pressured to recognize words that did not appear on the studied lists. Experiment 2 was implemented similarly, but utilized a presumably more difficult recognition test involving one long study phase followed by one long test phase. After the purported group tests in both experiments, participants completed surprise individual recognition tests. In both experiments, social pressure influenced participants’ responses on group recognition tests and subsequent individual recognition tests. Furthermore, the results indicated that social pressure affected both veridical memories and false memories.

Social processing improves recall performance

One recent theory (Dunbar, 2003) has highlighted the importance that processing social information might have had on the evolution of human cognition. Based on an analysis of that theory, researchers predicted that processing information in a social manner would improve recall performance in comparison with nonsocial processing. In order to test this prediction, three experiments were conducted in which participants studied 30-item word lists that were composed of common character traits (Experiment 1) or common category exemplars (Experiments 2 and 3). Next, participants reviewed 5 list items that were purportedly recalled by either a group member or the computer. Finally, after a brief distractor task, participants were asked to complete an individual recall test for all of the items on the original 30-item list. Of primary interest was recall performance for the list items that were purportedly recalled by either another participant or the computer. We observed that recall performance for list items purportedly recalled by another participant was superior to that for items that were recalled by the computer.

The effects of collaboration on recall of social information.

Three experiments examined the effects of passage type on both individual and collaborative memory performance. In Experiment 1, both individuals and collaborative groups recalled more information from passages containing social information than non-social information. Furthermore, collaborative inhibition (CI) was observed for both types of passages. In Experiment 2, which included a social passage that did not contain gossip, significant main effects of both gossip (gossip > non-gossip) and sociability (explicit > implicit) were observed. As in Experiment 1, CI was observed across all conditions. Experiment 3 separately manipulated gossip and the interest level of the passages and both of these factors enhanced memory performance. Moreover, robust CI was again observed across all conditions. Taken together, the present results demonstrate a mnemonic benefit for social information in individuals and collaborative groups.

The mnemonic effects of recall on immediate retention

In three experiments, we investigated the mnemonic effects of an initial recall on later recall in an immediate memory setting. Recall is generally assumed to interfere with the recall of subsequent items (output interference), but previous experiments have failed to control for the confounding effects of time. In the experiments reported here, the passage of time was held constant on all trials; what varied was whether an additional item was recalled (or simply presented) during the retention interval. The results revealed clear evidence of recall’s mnemonic effects, but output interference seemed strongest when the initial recall was of an item that followed the target item in the memory list. When participants initially recalled an item immediately preceding the target, target recall improved. This pattern of results places constraints on current models of immediate retention.

Collaborative inhibition persists following social processing

In this experiment, participants read target words that were presented in the context of a social sentence “Willow towered over Meadow” or a nonsocial sentence “The willow towered over the meadow.” Subsequently, they received a surprise cued recall test for the target nouns/names and completed the test either alone or in a group of two. Despite the fact that the stimulus materials were held constant across conditions, participants showed a social processing advantage in memory—that is, they remembered the social (name) versions of the target words significantly better than the nonsocial (noun) versions. Further, the social benefit was not strong enough to neutralise the inhibitory effects of collaboration as collaborative groups (two people working together) recalled significantly fewer words than did nominal groups (combined, nonredundant, output of two individuals working separately). The present study also demonstrated robust collaborative inhibition with cued recall, a task previously assumed to eliminate such inhibition.

Part-set cuing facilitation for spatial information.

Part-set cuing inhibition refers to the counterintuitive finding that hints--specifically, part of the set of to-be-remembered information--often impair memory performance in free recall tasks. Although inhibition is the most commonly reported result, part-set cuing facilitation has been shown with serial order tasks. The present study examined the influence of part-set cuing for spatial locations using novel methods and materials. Participants viewed the construction of Snap Circuit objects and then attempted to reconstruct the objects in either the presence or absence of part-set cues. Two experiments revealed robust part-set cuing facilitation on the spatial memory tasks. Generally, these results are consistent with the predictions of the retrieval strategy disruption hypothesis (e.g., D. R. Basden & Basden, 1995) and the 2- and 3-mechanism accounts of part-set cuing (Bäuml & Aslan, 2006; Bäuml & Samenieh, 2012).

Sex differences on a measure of conformity in automated teller machine lines.

Sex differences in conformity were examined as participants approached two ATMs, one of which was occupied by three confederates and the other immediately available. The number of men and women in the line in front of one of the ATMs was manipulated (3 men or 3 women), and an unobtrusive observer recorded the sex of each participant. The results indicated that women were more likely than men to wait in line to use the ATM regardless of the makeup of the line. Thus, the present study provides evidence in favor of the idea that sex differences in conformity are evident on a common task performed in a natural setting.

The joint influence of collaboration and part-set cueing.

The present study was designed to examine the effects of retrieval cues on memory performance for both individuals and collaborating pairs. Participants worked either alone or together in the presence or absence of part-set cues to recall list items in Experiments 1 and 2 and to reconstruct the order of a list items in Experiment 3. The detrimental effects of collaborative inhibition were observed across all three experiments. In contrast, part-set cueing inhibition was found following free recall, whereas part-set cueing facilitation was observed on reconstruction tasks. Taken together, the results of the present experiments suggest that the effects of collaborative inhibition and part-set cueing may operate independently of one another.