Developmental and Individual Differences in Long-Term Memory Retrieval: Process and Organization

IntroductionThere is a hypothesis in cognitive psychology that long-term memory retrieval is improved by intermediate testing than by restudying the information. The effect of testing has been investigated with the use of a variety of stimuli. However, almost all testing effect studies to date have used purely verbal materials such as word pairs, facts and prose passages.ObjectiveHere byzantine music symbol–word pairs were used as to-be-learned materials to demonstrate the generalisability of the testing effect to symbol learning in participants with and without depressive symptoms.MethodFifty healthy (24 women, M age = 26.20, SD = 5.64) and forty volunteers with high depressive symptomatology (20 women, M age = 27.00, SD = 1.04) were examined. The participants did not have a music education. The examination material was completely new for them: 16 byzantine music notation stimuli, paired with a verbal label (the ancient Greek name of the symbol). Half of the participants underwent intermediate testing and the others restudied the information in a balanced design.ResultsResults indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in final memory test performance after a retention interval of 5 minutes for both groups of participants with low and high level depressive symptomatology (P > 0.005). After a retention interval of a week, tested pairs were retained better than repeatedly studied pairs for high and low depressive symptomatology groups (P < 0.005).ConclusionsThis research suggests that the effect of testing time on later memory retrieval can also be obtained in byzantine symbol learning.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Task-set switching and long-term memory retrieval.

Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition ◽

10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1124 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 26 (5) ◽

pp. 1124-1140 ◽

Cited By ~ 155

Author(s):

Ulrich Mayr ◽

Reinhold Kliegl

Keyword(s):

Memory Retrieval ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Term Memory ◽

Task Set ◽

Set Switching

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Effect of Type of Task and Number of Inspectors on Performance of an Industrial Inspection-Type Task

Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ◽

10.1518/001872095779049552 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 182-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Harold Stanislaw

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Forced Choice ◽

Sensory Memory ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Rating Task ◽

Term Memory ◽

Industrial Inspection ◽

Inspection Task ◽

Practical Implications

Two hundred forty subjects working alone and in pairs performed three different versions of a task similar to industrial inspection: a rating task and spatial and temporal two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks. Performance was worse on the rating task than on the 2AFC tasks, and the spatial and temporal 2AFC tasks were performed equally well. These results could signify that performance is impaired more by demands made on long-term memory than by demands made on perception and sensory memory, or that asking subjects to compare items is fundamentally different from, and easier than, asking subjects to judge items in absolute terms. Individual differences in performance were marked, but performance was inconsistent across different versions of the inspection task. When subjects worked in pairs, performance was comparable to that obtained by requiring items to pass two inspections by individual subjects. However, a single inspection by subject pairs required less time than two inspections by individual subjects. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Impact of spaced repetition learning model on long term memory retrieval of neuroanatomy among 1styear medical students

Journal of Anatomical Society of India ◽

10.1016/j.jasi.2016.08.458 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 65 ◽

pp. S139

Author(s):

T.S. Gugapriya

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Learning Model ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Term Memory ◽

Spaced Repetition

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Individual Differences in Learning Efficiency

Current Directions in Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0963721419869005 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 607-613

Author(s):

Kathleen B. McDermott ◽

Christopher L. Zerr

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Experimental Approach ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Positive Relation ◽

Future Directions ◽

Term Memory ◽

Learning Efficiency ◽

Rate Of Learning ◽

Over Time

Most research on long-term memory uses an experimental approach whereby participants are assigned to different conditions, and condition means are the measures of interest. This approach has demonstrated repeatedly that conditions that slow the rate of learning tend to improve later retention. A neglected question is whether aggregate findings at the level of the group (i.e., slower learning tends to improve retention) translate to the level of individual people. We identify a discrepancy whereby—across people—slower learning tends to coincide with poorer memory. The positive relation between learning rate (speed of learning) and retention (amount remembered after a delay) across people is referred to as learning efficiency. A more efficient learner can acquire information faster and remember more of it over time. We discuss potential characteristics of efficient learners and consider future directions for research.

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Working Memory: Models and Applications

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.879 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Stoo Sepp ◽

Steven J. Howard ◽

Sharon Tindall-Ford ◽

Shirley Agostinho ◽

Fred Paas

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

Memory Capacity ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Auditory Information ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory

In 1956, Miller first reported on a capacity limitation in the amount of information the human brain can process, which was thought to be seven plus or minus two items. The system of memory used to process information for immediate use was coined “working memory” by Miller, Galanter, and Pribram in 1960. In 1968, Atkinson and Shiffrin proposed their multistore model of memory, which theorized that the memory system was separated into short-term memory, long-term memory, and the sensory register, the latter of which temporarily holds and forwards information from sensory inputs to short term-memory for processing. Baddeley and Hitch built upon the concept of multiple stores, leading to the development of the multicomponent model of working memory in 1974, which described two stores devoted to the processing of visuospatial and auditory information, both coordinated by a central executive system. Later, Cowan’s theorizing focused on attentional factors in the effortful and effortless activation and maintenance of information in working memory. In 1988, Cowan published his model—the scope and control of attention model. In contrast, since the early 2000s Engle has investigated working memory capacity through the lens of his individual differences model, which does not seek to quantify capacity in the same way as Miller or Cowan. Instead, this model describes working memory capacity as the interplay between primary memory (working memory), the control of attention, and secondary memory (long-term memory). This affords the opportunity to focus on individual differences in working memory capacity and extend theorizing beyond storage to the manipulation of complex information. These models and advancements have made significant contributions to understandings of learning and cognition, informing educational research and practice in particular. Emerging areas of inquiry include investigating use of gestures to support working memory processing, leveraging working memory measures as a means to target instructional strategies for individual learners, and working memory training. Given that working memory is still debated, and not yet fully understood, researchers continue to investigate its nature, its role in learning and development, and its implications for educational curricula, pedagogy, and practice.

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Hemispheric Asymmetries in Electroencephalogram Oscillations for Long-Term Memory Retrieval in Healthy Individuals

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10120937 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 937

Author(s):

Soyiba Jawed ◽

Hafeez Ullah Amin ◽

Aamir Saeed Malik ◽

Ibrahima Faye

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Frontal Region ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Term Memory ◽

Delta Band ◽

The Right

The hemispherical encoding retrieval asymmetry (HERA) model, established in 1991, suggests that the involvement of the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the encoding process is less than that of the left PFC. The HERA model was previously validated for episodic memory in subjects with brain traumas or injuries. In this study, a revised HERA model is used to investigate long-term memory retrieval from newly learned video-based content for healthy individuals using electroencephalography. The model was tested for long-term memory retrieval in two retrieval sessions: (1) recent long-term memory (recorded 30 min after learning) and (2) remote long-term memory (recorded two months after learning). The results show that long-term memory retrieval in healthy individuals for the frontal region (theta and delta band) satisfies the revised HERA asymmetry model.

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Unwanted Memory Intrusions Recruit Broad Motor Suppression

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01642 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 119-128

Author(s):

Anna Castiglione ◽

Adam R. Aron

Keyword(s):

Memory Retrieval ◽

Primary Motor Cortex ◽

Motor Evoked Potentials ◽

Motor Evoked Potential ◽

Long Term Memory ◽

Second Phase ◽

Unexpected Result ◽

Term Memory ◽

Rapid Action

Quickly preventing the retrieval of (inappropriate) long-term memories might recruit a similar control mechanism as rapid action-stopping. A very specific characteristic of rapid action-stopping is “global motor suppression”: When a single response is rapidly stopped, there is a broad skeletomotor suppression. This is shown by the technique of TMS placed over a task-irrelevant part of the primary motor cortex (M1) to measure motor-evoked potentials. Here, we used this same TMS method to test if rapidly preventing long-term memory retrieval also shows this broad skeletomotor suppression effect. Twenty human participants underwent a Think/No-Think task. In the first phase, they learned word pairs. In the second phase, they received the left-hand word as a cue and had to either retrieve the associated right-hand word (“Think”) or stop retrieval (“No-Think”). At the end of each trial, they reported whether they had experienced an intrusion of the associated memory. Behaviorally, on No-Think trials, they reported fewer intrusions than Think trials, and the reporting of intrusions decreased with practice. Physiologically, we observed that the motor-evoked potential, measured from the hand (which was irrelevant to the task), was reduced on No-Think trials in the time frame of 300–500 msec, especially on trials where they did report an intrusion. This unexpected result contradicted our preregistered prediction that we would find such a decrease on No-Think trials where the intrusion was not reported. These data suggest that one form of executive control over (inappropriate) long-term memory retrieval is a rapid and broad stop, akin to action-stopping, that is triggered by the intrusion itself.

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