Suzanne Freedman

In search of retrieval search in children and adults

Abstract The goal of the four experiments in this study was to examine retrieval access and item-by-item search processes and strategies in the cued recall of children and adults. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, third- and sixth-graders and college students were shown four-word stimuli (e.g., Bus-Airplane-Car-Train) at acquisition under different acquisition conditions designed to encourage search processes more or less. The retrieval cue information was manipulated as a way of varying the access and search demands, and a post-task retrieval strategy inventory was completed by the older subjects, as a way of providing converging evidence about access and search problems and strategies. In Experiment 4, nominal set stimuli (March–April–June–October) were provided in order to maximize the opportunity to observe search processes. The results suggest that retrieval access is a problem for young children and contributes strongly to developmental increases in recall. Item-by-item search processes, and retrieval strategies in general, are more likely to be used by adults than children, and the use varies with kind of stimulus. However, search occurs infrequently even for adults in optimal situations and thus seems to contribute minimally to recall increases with age.

Memorable Holidays and Planetary Lapses: Access, Stimulus Constraint, and Knowledge Base Problems in the Retrieval Search of Children and Adults.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of item-by-item retrieval search processes to developmental differences in cued recall. The four experiments were designed to examine or control problems involving search set access, the constraint on item order, the search object, and the knowledge base that usually may limit childrens use of search strategies, as well as provide positive evidence about the use of such strategies in recall. In Experiment 1, second and fifth graders and college students were shown three-item stimuli (e.g., Tuesday Wednesday Friday) from ordered sets (e.g., the alphabet, planets, holidays) or unordered sets (states, oceans) of items, induced to classify the stimuli at acquisition by an orienting task, and asked to recall the final target item (Friday) and the other items in each stimulus in a cued recall task. The cues were the first item in each stimulus, the first two items, or the set name (days of the week). The results were compared to recall for four-item stimuli in Experiment 2, for no orient situations in Experiment 3, and for three-word category and theme stimuli in Experiment 4. The results showed that developmental cued recall differences remained even when the access, constraint, search object, and knowledge base problems were controlled or minimized. However, the results also suggested that item-by-item search processes per se contributed minimally to these recall differences, even in situations that seemed to encourage the use of such processes (i.e., ordered sets).

The relation between conceptual elaboration and retrieval access to episodic information in memory for children and adults

Abstract The purpose of the six experiments in this study was to examine the problems of third graders, sixth graders, and college students in gaining access to episodic information in retrieving information from memory. In Experiment 1, the lengths of the related and unrelated stimuli were varied as a way of manipulating the conceptual elaboration of category and thematic stimuli, and stimulus classification was ensured by orienting questions. Conceptual access to the representations of the episodes in memory was assessed by comparisons of recall for one-word and two-word “extra-list” cues that were conceptually related to the targets. In the other experiments, access problems were examined further by varying “list” cues that represented physical information in the context and instructions about cue use, and conceptual elaboration was examined further by varying no orient instructions, subordinate and superordinate category orienting questions, and prototypical and nonprototypical associates in the stimuli. The results suggested that conceptual access problems vary with grade, that the conceptual elaboration of the representation of an episode facilitates access, and that elaboration is the result of a complex interaction of stimulus information and the associative structure of permanent memory.

Forgiveness as an educational goal with at-risk adolescents

Abstract An educational intervention using forgiveness as the goal was implemented with 10 at-risk adolescents attending an alternative school in a Midwestern city. The adolescents ranged in age from 15 to 19 years of age. A randomized experimental and active control group pre- and post-test design was used. Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (forgiveness education class) or the control group (personal communications class). Classes met daily for 31 sessions for approximately 23 hours of education. Enright’s process model of forgiveness was used as the focus of the intervention. Dependent variables included forgiveness, self-esteem, hope, depression, and state-trait anxiety scales. After the education, the experimental group gained more than the control group in forgiveness and hope, and decreased significantly more than the control group in anxiety and depression. Verbal reports from the experimental participants following the education also illustrate the positive impact forgiveness had on the students.

The Use of Forgiveness Therapy with Female Survivors of Abuse

Three intervention studies focusing on the psychology of forgiveness for women who have been abused are reviewed. All three incorporated the process model of forgiveness, used randomized assignment to experimental and control groups, and examined effectiveness through pre-test, post-test, and follow-up assessments. All three were conducted by different interveners. Results show that forgiveness is an effective way of restoring psychological health following abuse as well as increasing forgiveness toward the offender. For example, in Freedman and Enright’s study with incest survivors, the experimental group showed a significantly greater reduction in anxiety, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression, and a greater increase in forgiving the perpetrator, and in hope. Similar results were found in Reed and Enright’s study with women who experienced spousal emotional abuse. Participants who received Forgiveness Therapy, compared to an alternative therapy, demonstrated a statistically significantly greater increase in forgiving the former abusive partner, in self-esteem, in environmental mastery (everyday decisions), and in finding meaning in suffering (moral decisions), and a statistically significantly greater reduction in trait anxiety, in depression, and in post-traumatic stress symptoms. Lee and Enright’s study with women with fibromyalgia, who experienced parental abuse in childhood, additionally shows that forgiveness, can help alleviate physical symptoms as well as psychological symptoms. Specifically, the forgiveness intervention participants had greater improvements in forgiveness and overall fibromyalgia health from pretest to the post-test, and in forgiveness and state anger from the pretest to the follow-up test than the fibromyalgia health intervention participants.