Silvia Mecklenbräuker

Effects of mood on memory: Experimental tests of a mood-state-dependent retrieval hypothesis and of a mood-congruity hypothesis

SummaryIn the present experiment a mood-state-dependent retrieval hypothesis and a mood-congruity hypothesis are tested. The first hypothesis states that recall is higher when mood at test matches mood at input than when it does not match. The second hypothesis states that people learn more about events that match their mood state. Both hypotheses are consistent with the network model of mood and memory proposed by Bower and his colleagues. Our study was conducted to test the cited hypotheses with normal subjects (instead of highly hypnotizable subjects as in the studies by Bower et al.) and with a comparatively mild mood-induction technique. Another aim was to test different predictions from the two hypotheses.We experimentally varied mood (happy vs. sad), both at learning and at recall by using the Velten technique. Additionally, the emotional content (pleasant vs. neutral vs. unpleasant) of the text to be learned was manipulated.The empirical evidence with some restrictions favored the mood-state-dependent hypothesis and disagreed with the mood-congruity hypothesis. Possible explanations for the failure to obtain a mood-congruity effect are offered, and the results are discussed with reference to a network model of mood and memory.

Age-related improvements in a conceptual implicit memory test.

The present study investigated developmental improvements in category exemplar generation priming in children from kindergarten to older elementary school age. The strength of categorical links for atypical exemplars increases in this age range, whereas category knowledge for typical exemplars remains relatively stable. Therefore, in comparison with older children, younger children should show less categorical-relational encoding and, thus, less priming for atypical items but not for typical items. This expectation was confirmed in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, picture versus word format at study dissociated implicit and explicit performance, indicating that the age-related increase in priming for atypical exemplars in Experiment 1 was not an artifact of explicit contamination. The findings suggest that developmental improvements in conceptual priming can be observed when the conceptual knowledge relevant for a given task improves over the age range tested.

Decomposing the memory processes contributing to enactment effects by multinomial modelling

Typically, symbolic enactment increases memory for verb-object phrases. When investigating which processes constitute this enactment effect, a difficulty is that observable effects in standard memory tests are ambiguous. The present work presents a multinomial model that decomposes memory performance into (a) a retrieval parameter, (b) a parameter for integration of a verb-object phrase, and (c) one for item-specific processing. We tested whether enactment strengthens the item-specific processing of the object in addition to that of the verb, and whether enactment strengthens the integration of verbs and objects on top of item-specific processing. Memory after enactment was compared to that after verbal learning and after imagery. Our findings show that, indeed, all three processes are increased after enactment as compared to verbal learning. In addition, retrieval is hindered by enactment.

What colour is the car? Implicit memory for colour information in children:

Three experiments were conducted to examine age-related differences in colour memory. In Experiment 1, preschool age and elementary school age children were given a conceptual test of implicit colour memory (a colour-choice task). They were presented with the names or achromatic versions of previously studied coloured line drawings and asked to select an appropriate colour. Significant priming could be demonstrated: The children chose the previously seen colours more often than was expected by chance. Equivalent priming was found for both versions (pictorial and verbal) suggesting that colour priming may be conceptually mediated. Moreover, colour priming proved to be age invariant. Experiment 2 replicated and extended this finding by using a wider age group (preschool, elementary school, and young adults) and by giving a perceptual implicit task (picture identification) in addition to a verbal colour-choice task. Colour did not affect priming in the perceptual task. Whereas priming showed no developmental change, age related improvements were observed on an explicit colour memory task that differed only in the test instructions from the implicit colour-choice task (Experiments 2 and 3). Taken together, the results suggest that implicit colour memory may be mediated by conceptual processes that are age invariant.

Decomposing retrieval and integration in memory for actions: a multinomial modeling approach.

Typically, action phrases are recalled better if participants are asked to enact the phrases than if they are just asked to remember them. When investigating which processes constitute this enactment effect a difficulty is that observable effects in standard memory tests are ambiguous because such tests require several processes. In the present article, we introduce a multinomial model that decomposes observable memory performance into a retrieval parameter and a parameter concerning the item-specific processing and integration of an action phrase. These parameters are estimated from free recall and cued recall performance. The model fitted the data of two experiments designed to test it. Experiment 1 demonstrated the basic usefulness of the model by showing expected differences in the integration parameter in the absence of unexpected differences in the retrieval parameter. Experiment 2 extended the conditions under which the model is useful by showing expected differences in the retrieval parameter even in the presence of unexpected differences in the integration parameter. Together, these findings support our theoretical framework according to which enactment generally boosts integration of action phrases, but increases retrieval only for phrases with context cues.

False Memories: Phenomena, Theories, and Implications

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research on false memories: the subjective experience of remembering something if that something did apparently not happen in reality. We review a range of findings concerning this phenomenon: False memories of details and of whole events by adults and children, as well as false memories of words in laboratory experiments (in the DRM paradigm). We also briefly discuss the converse phenomenon: Evidence of forgetting or repression of significant events, and evidence of recovered memories. Knowledge of both phenomena is needed for judging whether “new” memories are false, recovered, or whether both options are possible. More general as well as specific theories explaining false memories are discussed, and we close with implications for

Implicit memory for textual materials

As a word moves from isolation in a list to being contextually bound in meaningful discourse, its probability of priming in tests of implicit memory decreases. The present experiments explore whether considerable priming effects can be revealed with conceptual tests of implicit memory as compared to perceptual tests. In the study phase, meaningful actions were described within a coherent text. In Experiment 1 subjects elaborated half of the actions by visual imagery. In Experiment 2, subjects elaborated the actions by enacting them symbolically. In both experiments, subjects in a control condition were simply required to read the same activities. In Experiment 2, a further group of subjects had to detect orthographic errors. The results demonstrated reliable effects of implicit memory in terms of associations with verbs repeated from the studied text. This form of repetition priming for textual materials in a conceptual test of implicit memory was enhanced by both types of elaboration. A word-stem completion task for the same targets revealed a less pronounced and inconsistent priming effect, uninfluenced by both types of elaboration. But the latter form of perceptual priming was found to be more pronounced within the error-detection condition. Measures of explicit memory showed similar effects of elaborative encoding conditions but there were some dissimilarities to measures of implicit memory, too. In general and in accordance with a transfer-appropriate processing view, conceptual tests rather than perceptual tests may be more suitable for detecting effects of implicit memory within the domain of text processing.

Spatial Information and Actions

The present study investigates connections between spatial information and actions. Only a few studies on this topic have been published to date. Moreover, changes in spatial representations have not been examined following the connection with actions. Our results show that previously acquired spatial information (i.e., information about locations along a learned route) can be associated with imagined or with symbolically performed actions. However, we have not yet found any evidence that spatial representations are altered by the formation of these associations. We conclude that more sensitive and, perhaps, implicit measures of spatial representations are needed in order to detect the presumed action-dependent changes. Furthermore, the salience of the actions and their connection to the spatial environment should be considered as important variables.

Gender bias in fame judgments: Implicit gender stereotyping or matching study phase fame?

Familiarized names are falsely judgedfamous more often than nonfamiliarized names. Banaji and Greenwald (1995) demonstrated a gender bias in thisfalse fame effect, with the effect being larger for male than for female names. This effect was interpreted as reflecting the operation of a gender stereotype. However, the famous male names were, in fact, better known than the famous female names. Thus, the presence of more famous male names during study may have contributed to the observed male-famous association. If so, there should be no gender bias if the studied famous male and female names are equally famous, and a reversed gender bias should emerge if the famous female names are more famous than the male names. In two experiments, these predictions were corroborated. A “classical” gender bias was found only when the famous males were more famous than the famous females. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the gender bias in fame judgments, rather than showing implicit gender stereotyping in the sense of a transsituational judgment bias, reflects the fact that, in test, participants select a proportion of fame judgments to male and female names so that it matches the relative degree of fame of male and female names encountered during study.

Metamemory-Memory Connections and Their Development Under Imaginal Encoding Conditions

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between children’s knowledge about effects of imagery on memory, and their memory performance. Developmental trends in this relationship were also examined under different encoding conditions and in two different learning tasks: associative and prose learning. No substantial connections between metamnemonic knowledge and recall performance were observed. The assumption that children with better knowledge about imagery will be better able to benefit from an imaginal encoding mode was not supported.