Word length negatively predicts recognition memory performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 1675-1683
Author(s):  
Michael J Cortese ◽  
David Von Nordheim ◽  
Maya M Khanna
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Orthographic Similarity ◽  
Single Process ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Noise Models

We examined how word length affects performance in three recognition memory experiments to resolve discrepant results in the literature for which there are theoretical implications. Shorter and longer words were equated on frequency, orthographic similarity, age of acquisition, and imageability. In Experiments 1 and 2, orthographic length (i.e., the number of letters in a word) was negatively related to hits minus false alarms. In Experiment 3, recognition performance did not differ between one- and two-syllable words that were equated on orthographic length. These results are compatible with single-process item-noise models that represent orthography in terms of features and in which memory representation strength is a product of the probabilities that the individual features have been stored. Longer words are associated with noisier representations than shorter words.

scholarly journals Stress impacts the fidelity but not strength of emotional memories

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maheen Shermohammed ◽  
Juliet Y. Davidow ◽  
Leah Somerville ◽  
Vishnu Murty
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Correct Identification ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Memory Representations ◽  
Stress Influences

Psychological stress during memory encoding influences resulting memory representations. However, open questions remain regarding how stress interacts with emotional memory. This interaction has mainly been studied by characterizing the correct identification of previously observed material (memory “hits”), with few studies investigating how stress influences the incorrect endorsement of unobserved material as remembered (memory “false alarms”). While hits can provide information about the presence or strength of a memory representation, false alarms provide insight into the fidelity of those representations, indicating to what extent stored memories are confused with similar information presented at retrieval. This study examined the effects of stress on long-term memory for negative and neutral images, considering the separate contributions of hits and false alarms. Participants viewed images after repeated exposure to either a stress or a control manipulation. Stress impaired memory performance for negative pictures and enhanced memory performance for neutral pictures. These effects were driven by false alarms rather than hits: stressed participants false alarmed more often for negative and less often for neutral images. These data suggest that stress undermines the benefits of emotion on memory by changing individuals’ susceptibility towards false alarms, and highlight the need to consider both memory strength and fidelity to characterize differences in memory performance.

scholarly journals Recognition Memory for Pictorial Events: Fusion or Features

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julie Leibrich
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Stimulus Material ◽  
Test Material ◽  
Semantic Consistency ◽  
Visual Events ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Picture Stories

<p>This research investigated recognition memory for picture stories. Jenkins, Wald and Pittenger (1978) had found that when subjects viewed a slide sequence which depicted an every-day event, in a later recognition memory test they correctly rejected distractors which were inconsistent with the event but falsely accepted consistent distractors. Jenkins interpreted this result as evidence that fusion - the abstraction of visual events - determined memory performance. He argued that subjects compared the test slides to the abstracted event and accepted those which were consistent with the event. A series of experiments examined the possibility that performance was due not to fusion but to confusion with respect to the featural details of the stimulus material. This alternative interpretation argued that consistent slides had more features in common with acquisition slides than did the inconsistent slides and that the variables of semantic consistency and featural similarity had been confounded. The first experiment manipulated acquisition material and found that subjects who saw a disordered acquisition sequence falsely accepted consistent slides. The second experiment manipulated acquisition conditions and found that subjects who were inhibited from fusing the event by being required to perform a non-semantic task during acquisition falsely accepted consistent slides. Neither of these results supported a fusion interpretation since acceptance of consistent slides occurred under conditions where fusion of the event was not expected. The third experiment manipulated the test conditions and found that acceptance of both consistent and inconsistent slides was less likely with delayed tests although fusion of the event should have led to no change in the likelihood of accepting inconsistent slides. The fourth and fifth experiments re-examined the manipulation of presentation order and demonstrated that subjects were unable to reconstruct the event from a disordered sequence and yet still falsely accepted consistent slides. Each test of the fusion interpretation which had attempted to separate the variables of features and meaning indirectly had indicated that recognition performance was not due to abstraction of the visual event. A final experiment attempted to find explicit evidence for a featural interpretation of the results by directly varying featural similarity of consistent distractor slides to slides from the originally viewed sequence while keeping the degree of semantic consistency constant. Although this experiment failed to support a featural account, the converging evidence from all experiments indicated that recognition memory for picture stories is based to a large extent on the featural properties of the stimulus material. An account of performance solely in terms of visual abstraction is not adequate. Moreover, unless the variables of featural similarity and meaning can be separated directly in the test material, this recognition paradigm is unlikely to provide a means for examining the influence of schemata on recognition memory for picture stories.</p>

Associative Organization in Recognition Memory

1974 ◽  
Vol 38 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1123-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Reardon ◽  
Frank Da Polito ◽  
Donald Polzella
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Confidence Judgments ◽  
D Values ◽  
Associative Organization

This article reports an investigation of the effect of organization in word recognition. Ss learned lists of 30 words, 15 presented in associatively related triplets and 15 presenred in associatively unrelated triplets. No difference was found between lists when d' values were used as a measure of recognition performance. However, Ss gave higher confidence judgments for hits and false alarms from associatively related triplets. The results suggest that the familiarity distributions of old and new items may have shifted upward under the organized condition.

scholarly journals Hungarian Structural Focus: Accessibility to Focused Elements and Their Alternatives in Working Memory and Delayed Recognition Memory

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Káldi ◽  
Ágnes Szöllösi ◽  
Anna Babarczy
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Original Sentence ◽  
Delayed Recognition

The present work investigates the memory accessibility of linguistically focused elements and the representation of the alternatives for these elements (i.e., their possible replacements) in Working Memory (WM) and in delayed recognition memory in the case of the Hungarian pre-verbal focus construction (preVf). In two probe recognition experiments we presented preVf and corresponding focusless neutral sentences embedded in five-sentence stories. Stories were followed by the presentation of sentence probes in one of three conditions: (i) the probe was identical to the original sentence in the story, (ii) the focused word (i.e., target) was replaced by a semantically related word and (iii) the target word was replaced by a semantically unrelated but contextually suitable word. In Experiment 1, probes were presented immediately after the stories measuring WM performance, while in Experiment 2, blocks of six stories were presented and sentences were probed with a 2-minute delay measuring delayed recognition memory performance. Results revealed an advantage of the focused element in immediate but not in delayed retrieval. We found no effect of sentence type on the recognition of the two different probe types in WM performance. However, results pertaining to the memory accessibility of focus alternatives in delayed retrieval showed an interference effect resulting in a lower memory performance. We conclude that this effect is indirect evidence for the enhanced activation of focus alternatives. The present work is novel in two respects. First, no study has been conducted on the memory representation of focused elements and their alternatives in the case of the structurally marked Hungarian pre-verbal focus construction. Second, to our knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the focus representation accounts for WM and delayed recognition memory using the same stimuli and same measured variables. Since both experiments used exactly the same stimulus set, and they only differed in terms of the timing of recognition probes, the principle of ceteris paribus fully applied with respect to how we addressed our research question regarding the two different memory systems.

scholarly journals Decomposing parietal memory reactivation to predict consequences of remembering

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmi Lee ◽  
Rosalie Samide ◽  
Franziska R. Richter ◽  
Brice A. Kuhl
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Parietal Cortex ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Recognition Memory Performance ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Item Level ◽  
Different Levels

ABSTRACTMemory retrieval can strengthen, but also distort memories. Parietal cortex is a candidate region involved in retrieval-induced memory changes as it reflects retrieval success and represents retrieved content. Here, we conducted an fMRI experiment to test whether different forms of parietal reactivation predict distinct consequences of retrieval. Subjects studied associations between words and pictures of faces, scenes, or objects, and then repeatedly retrieved half of the pictures, reporting the vividness of the retrieved pictures (‘retrieval practice’). On the following day, subjects completed a recognition memory test for individual pictures. Critically, the test included lures highly similar to studied pictures. Behaviorally, retrieval practice increased both hit and false alarm rates to similar lures, confirming a causal influence of retrieval on subsequent memory. Using pattern similarity analyses, we measured two different levels of reactivation during retrieval practice: generic ‘category-level’ reactivation and idiosyncratic ‘item-level’ reactivation. Vivid remembering during retrieval practice was associated with stronger category- and item-level reactivation in parietal cortex. However, these measures differentially predicted subsequent recognition memory performance: whereas higher category-level reactivation tended to predict false alarms to lures, item-level reactivation predicted correct rejections. These findings indicate that parietal reactivation can be decomposed to tease apart distinct consequences of memory retrieval.

Memory Improvement While Hearing Music

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Jay Dowling ◽  
Barbara Tillmann
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Memory Representation ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Melodic Contour ◽  
Memory Improvement ◽  
Pitch Level ◽  
Individual Features ◽  
Complex Features

Previous research (Music Perception, 2002, Issue 2) demonstrated improvement in recognition memory across delays increasing from 5 to 15 s while listening to novel music, attributable to a decline in false alarms to similar lures. We hypothesize that this improvement results from delayed binding of features. At short delays, targets and similar lures are easily confused because they share individual features such as melodic contour and musical key. Binding those features into a coherent memory representation—such as encoding the pitch level at which the contour is attached to the scale—reduces that confusion and hence false alarms to similar lures. Here we report eight experiments in which we explore the conditions under which this continued encoding occurs, and test specific hypotheses concerning the particular features involved. These phenomena involve the binding of complex features of nonverbal material, and are explained in terms of theoretical descriptions of the features and the representations resulting from binding. We envisage future studies investigating this binding phenomenon with neurophysiological methods in the study of cognition in aging.

Usefulness of Discriminability and Response Bias Indices for the Evaluation of Recognition Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Julieta Russo ◽  
Gabriela Cohen ◽  
Jorge Campos ◽  
Maria Eugenia Martin ◽  
María Florencia Clarens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Alzheimer Disease ◽  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Delayed Recall

Background: Most studies examining episodic memory in Alzheimer disease (AD) have focused on patients' impaired ability to remember information. This approach provides only a partial picture of memory deficits since other factors involved are not considered. Objective: To evaluate the recognition memory performance by using a yes/no procedure to examine the effect of discriminability and response bias measures in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI), AD dementia, and normal-aging subjects. Methods: We included 43 controls and 45 a-MCI and 51 mild AD dementia patients. Based on the proportions of correct responses (hits) and false alarms from the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), discriminability (d′) and response bias (C) indices from signal detection theory (SDT) were calculated. Results: Results showed significant group differences for d′ (F (2) = 83.26, p < 0.001), and C (F (2) = 6.05, p = 0.00). The best predictors of group membership were delayed recall and d′ scores. The d′ measure correctly classified subjects with 82.98% sensitivity and 91.11% specificity. Conclusions: a-MCI and AD dementia subjects exhibit less discrimination accuracy and more liberal response bias than controls. Furthermore, combined indices of delayed recall and discriminability from the RAVLT are effective in defining early AD. SDT may help enhance diagnostic specificity.

Vividness of Visual Imagery for Faces as a Predictor of Facial Recognition Memory Performance: A Revised View

1993 ◽  
Vol 76 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1083-1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. McKelvie
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Facial Recognition ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Vividness Rating ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Reported Data ◽  
Accuracy Relationship

This paper presents a re-analysis of previously reported data in which the mean correlation over 10 experiments between vividness of visual imagery for faces and facial recognition memory was .247. When task accuracy was consistently scored to eliminate false-alarms, the correlation dropped to .145, although it remained above zero. Since the vividness/task confidence correlation of .176 was also significant, it is suggested that the weak vividness/accuracy relationship may reflect different processing requirements in the vividness and recognition tasks and subjectivity of the vividness rating scale.

scholarly journals Recognition Memory for Pictorial Events: Fusion or Features

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julie Leibrich
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Stimulus Material ◽  
Test Material ◽  
Semantic Consistency ◽  
Visual Events ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Picture Stories

<p>This research investigated recognition memory for picture stories. Jenkins, Wald and Pittenger (1978) had found that when subjects viewed a slide sequence which depicted an every-day event, in a later recognition memory test they correctly rejected distractors which were inconsistent with the event but falsely accepted consistent distractors. Jenkins interpreted this result as evidence that fusion - the abstraction of visual events - determined memory performance. He argued that subjects compared the test slides to the abstracted event and accepted those which were consistent with the event. A series of experiments examined the possibility that performance was due not to fusion but to confusion with respect to the featural details of the stimulus material. This alternative interpretation argued that consistent slides had more features in common with acquisition slides than did the inconsistent slides and that the variables of semantic consistency and featural similarity had been confounded. The first experiment manipulated acquisition material and found that subjects who saw a disordered acquisition sequence falsely accepted consistent slides. The second experiment manipulated acquisition conditions and found that subjects who were inhibited from fusing the event by being required to perform a non-semantic task during acquisition falsely accepted consistent slides. Neither of these results supported a fusion interpretation since acceptance of consistent slides occurred under conditions where fusion of the event was not expected. The third experiment manipulated the test conditions and found that acceptance of both consistent and inconsistent slides was less likely with delayed tests although fusion of the event should have led to no change in the likelihood of accepting inconsistent slides. The fourth and fifth experiments re-examined the manipulation of presentation order and demonstrated that subjects were unable to reconstruct the event from a disordered sequence and yet still falsely accepted consistent slides. Each test of the fusion interpretation which had attempted to separate the variables of features and meaning indirectly had indicated that recognition performance was not due to abstraction of the visual event. A final experiment attempted to find explicit evidence for a featural interpretation of the results by directly varying featural similarity of consistent distractor slides to slides from the originally viewed sequence while keeping the degree of semantic consistency constant. Although this experiment failed to support a featural account, the converging evidence from all experiments indicated that recognition memory for picture stories is based to a large extent on the featural properties of the stimulus material. An account of performance solely in terms of visual abstraction is not adequate. Moreover, unless the variables of featural similarity and meaning can be separated directly in the test material, this recognition paradigm is unlikely to provide a means for examining the influence of schemata on recognition memory for picture stories.</p>

scholarly journals Memorable words are monogamous: The role of synonymy and homonymy in word recognition memory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Mahowald ◽  
Phillip Isola ◽  
Evelina Fedorenko ◽  
Edward Gibson ◽  
Aude Oliva
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Affect Recognition ◽  
Rational Analysis ◽  
Intended Meaning ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
With Memory

What makes a word memorable? Prior research has identified numerous factors: word frequency, concreteness, imageability, and valence have all been shown to affect recognition performance. One important dimension that has not received much attention is the nature of the relationship between words and meanings. Under the hypothesis that words are encoded primarily by their meanings, and not by their surface forms, this relationship should be central to determining word memorability. In particular, rational analysis suggests that people will more easily remember words that convey a large amount of informationabout their intended meaning and that have few alternatives – that is, memorable words will be those with few possiblemeanings and synonyms. To test this hypothesis, we ran two large-scale recognition memory experiments (each with 2,222 words, 600+ participants). Memory performance was overall high, on par with memory for pictures in a similar paradigm. Critically, however, not all words were remembered equally well. Consistent with our proposal, the best recognized words had few meanings and few synonyms. Indeed, the most memorable words had a one-to-one relationship with their meanings. Estimates of memorability derived from this rational account explain a large amount of the variance in word memorability.

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