Understanding the memory advantage of counterintuitive concepts

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Harmon-Vukić ◽  
M. Afzal Upal ◽  
Kelly J. Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Memory Advantage ◽  
Counterintuitive Concepts

The Effect of Integration on Recall of Counterintuitive Stories

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 57-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Jason Slone ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Ontological Category ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Memory Advantage ◽  
Cognitive Foundations ◽  
Integrated Or ◽  
Counterintuitive Concepts ◽  
Better Than

AbstractResearch on the cognitive foundations of cultural transmission has recently demonstrated that concepts which minimally violate one domain-specific ontological category expectation, or "minimally counterintuitive" concepts (MCI), are better recalled, all else being equal, than "intuitive" concepts (INT), which do not violate domain-specific ontological expectations. In addition, memory for MCI concepts is better than memory for "maximally counterintuitive concepts" (MXCI), or concepts which violate more than one domain-specifi c ontological expectation. Thus, MCI items appear to enjoy a memory advantage, although these effects are heavily affected by context. The present experiment was designed to investigate the influence of integration on the MCI effect. Participants memorized a series of stories that were either intuitive (INT), minimally counterintuitive (MCI), or maximally counterintuitive (MXCI). In addition, the stories were either causally integrated or not. Cued recall results suggested that integration of a story is a significant factor influencing memory performance. We argue that these results are complimentary to the MCI hypothesis.

Visuo-spatial Memory Advantage of Biscriptal Bilinguals

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Suarez ◽  
Ismath Beevi ◽  
Jonathan J. H. Soh ◽  
Rachel P. L. Lim ◽  
Sok Hui Teo
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Memory Advantage

scholarly journals Provably unbounded memory advantage in stochastic simulation using quantum mechanics

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 103009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J P Garner ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Jayne Thompson ◽  
Vlatko Vedral ◽  
mile Gu
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Stochastic Simulation ◽  
Memory Advantage

scholarly journals The Memorability of Supernatural Concepts: Effects of Minimal Counterintuitiveness, Moral Valence, and Existential Anxiety on Recall

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Beebe
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Existential Anxiety ◽  
Science Of Religion ◽  
Moral Valence ◽  
Counterintuitive Concepts ◽  
Main Effects

Within the cognitive science of religion, some scholars hypothesize (1) that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts enjoy a transmission advantage over both intuitive and highly counterintuitive concepts, (2) that religions concern counterintuitive agents, objects, or events, and (3) that the transmission advantage of MCI concepts makes them more likely to be found in the world’s religions than other kinds of concepts. We hypothesized that the memorability of many MCI supernatural concepts was due in large part to other characteristics they possess, such as their frequent and salient association with moral concerns and the alleviation of existential anxieties, and that without such characteristics they would fail to be memorable. We report the results of three experiments designed to test the relative contributions of minimal counterintuitiveness, moral valence, and existential anxiety to the memorability of supernatural ideas. We observed no main effects for minimal counterintuitiveness but did observe main effects for both moral valence and existential anxiety. We also found that these effects did not seem to stem from the greater visualizability of morally valenced concepts or concepts that concerned existential anxieties. These findings challenge important claims made by leading researchers regarding MCI concepts within the cognitive science of religion.

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