scholarly journals How Individual Differences in Working Memory and Source Monitoring matter in Susceptibility to False Memory

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
LaTasha R Holden ◽  
Andrew R. A. Conway ◽  
Kerri A. Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Source Monitoring ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Word List ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Eyewitness Testimony ◽  
Goal Maintenance

Using the DRM word list paradigm (Roediger & McDermott, 1995) we investigated the role of individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) and source monitoring (SM) ability in protection from false memories (FM) in recall and recognition. Both spreading activation and monitoring are cognitive processes associated with working memory (Anderson, 1983; Cantor & Engle, 1993), and previous research demonstrates working memory’s relation to goal maintenance (Kane & Engle, 2003) and importance for withholding irrelevant information (Conway & Engle, 1994). However, whether higher WMC constitutes activation or monitoring and predicts increased or decreased FM production respectively, remains inconclusive (Watson et al., 2005; Peters et al., 2007; Bixter & Daniel, 2013). When considering SM ability, a relationship has been found between WMC and FM in recall, suggesting that SM mediates this relation (Unsworth & Brewer, 2010). Other work suggests that SM and WMC interact based on the role of memory monitoring in constraining task irrelevant information (Rose, 2013; Lilienthal et al., 2015). From an activation-monitoring perspective (Gallo, 2010), we investigated individual differences in WMC and SM predicting FM in recall and recognition, testing whether the relationships are additive or interactive. Our findings support moderation, suggesting that when SM ability is too high, working memory cannot work as well to monitor and constrain activation in order to reduce FM. Only when WMC was higher and SM was lower did we show a predicted decrease in FM during recognition. This work suggests that protecting mental resources in WMC is more important for constraining FM production than SM ability and we consider the implications for real world false memories and eyewitness testimony.

Individual Differences in Working Memory Capacity in Recency Effects: From the Recall Process

2009 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Sasaki
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Recall Accuracy ◽  
Recency Effects ◽  
Span Test ◽  
Backward Recall

The purpose was to investigate the role of individual differences in working memory capacity in recency effects on free, forward, and backward recall tasks. In Exp. 1, correlations between scores on a listening-span test and recall accuracy of recent items were positive and significant under all conditions. This result suggested participants with large working memory capacity are likely to show a stronger recency effect. Predictive power of the listening-span test was still significant after the word-span score was partialled out. In Exp. 2, the predictive power of the listening-span test scores was not significant when a delay was introduced between study and recall phases. Analysis suggested participants with a larger working memory capacity, and particularly with higher cognitive function, were sensitive to the recollection process.

scholarly journals Polish Listening SPAN: A new tool for measuring verbal working memory

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 601-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Zychowicz ◽  
Adriana Biedroń ◽  
Mirosław Pawlak
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Factors Influencing

Individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA) encompass differences in working memory capacity, which is believed to be one of the most crucial factors influencing language learning. However, in Poland research on the role of working memory in SLA is scarce due to a lack of proper Polish instruments for measuring this construct. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the process of construction and validation of the Polish Listening Span (PLSPAN) as a tool intended to measure verbal working memory of adults. The article presents the requisite theoretical background as well as the information about the PLSPAN, that is, the structure of the test, the scoring procedures and the steps taken with the aim of validating it.

scholarly journals Working Memory Beats Age: Evidence of the Influence of Working Memory on the Production of Children’s Emotional False Memories

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Mirandola ◽  
Francesca Pazzaglia
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Negative Events ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Children First

Emotional valence and working memory ability (WM) affect false memories’ production in adults. Whereas a number of studies have investigated the role of emotional valence in children’s tendency to produce spontaneous false memories, individual differences in WM have not been previously included. In the current article, we were interested in investigating whether emotion and WM would interact in influencing the propensity to incur inferential false memories for scripted events. Ninety-eight typically developing children (first-, third-, and eighth- graders) were administered the Emotional false memory paradigm – allowing to study false memories for negative, positive, and neutral events – and a WM task. Results showed that regardless of age, valence influenced false memories’ production, such that positive events protected against incurring distortions. Furthermore, WM interacted with valence, such that children with higher WM abilities produced fewer false memories for negative events. Concerning confidence judgments, only the youngest group of children claimed to be overconfident when committing false memories for negative and neutral events. Results are discussed in terms of the role of individual differences in higher cognitive abilities interacting with the emotional content of to-be-remembered events.

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