Effectiveness of production and drawing as encoding techniques on recall using mixed- and pure-list designs.

We compared the benefit of production and drawing on recall of concrete and abstract words, using mixed- and pure-list designs. We varied stimulus and list types to examine whether the memory benefit from these strategies was sustained across these manipulations. For all experiments, the memory retrieval task was free recall. In Experiment 1, participants studied concrete and abstract words sequentially, with prompts to either silently-read, read aloud, write, or draw each target (intermixed). Reading aloud, writing, and drawing improved recall compared to silent reading, with drawing leading to the largest boost. Performance, however, was at floor in all but the drawing condition. In Experiment 2, the number of targets was reduced, and each strategy (between-subjects) was compared to silent-reading. We eliminated floor effects and replicated results from Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we manipulated strategy in a pure-list-design. The drawing benefit was maintained while that from production was eliminated. In all experiments, recall was higher for concrete than abstract words that were drawn; no such effect was found for words produced. Results suggest that drawing facilitates memory by enhancing semantic elaboration, whereas the production benefit is largely perceptually based. Importantly, the memory benefit conferred by drawing at encoding, unlike production, cannot be explained by a distinctiveness account as it was relatively unaffected by study design.

Which Encoding Techniques Facilitate Comprehension?

Previous work suggests that similar cognitive processes contribute to memory and comprehension. This is unsurprising as both begin with a common process: encoding. Despite this, the investigation of techniques that benefit memory and comprehension has proceeded separately. In the current study, we compared the robust memory techniques of production and drawing to a similarly effective comprehension strategy known as paraphrasing. Depending on the group, participants were asked to either engage in one of the encoding types (read aloud, draw, or paraphrase) or to silently read 20 term-definition pairs (randomly intermixed and counterbalanced). The encoding techniques of drawing and paraphrasing resulted in better performance on a multiple-choice test of concept comprehension, relative to silently reading. By contrast, reading aloud at encoding did not lead to any benefit relative to silently reading. The results suggest that techniques that invoke transformation of the to-be-remembered text into another format, be it into a picture (drawing) or personally relevant summary (paraphrasing), are particularly effective at improving comprehension. By contrast, encoding techniques that mainly provide a perceptual repetition (production and silent reading) are less effective.

How varying cue duration influences item-method directed forgetting: A novel selective retrieval interpretation.

A series of four experiments tested the assumptions of the most prominent and longstanding account of item-method directed forgetting: the selective rehearsal account. In the item-method directed forgetting paradigm, each presented item is followed by its own instructional cue during the study phase - either to-be-forgotten (F) or to-be-remembered (R). On a subsequent test, memory is poorer for F items than for R items. To clarify the mechanism underlying memory performance, we manipulated the time available for rehearsal, examining instructional cue durations of 1 s, 5 s, and 10 s. Experiments 1a and 1b, where the order of cue durations was randomized, showed no effect of cue duration on item recognition of unrelated single words, for either R or F items. Experiment 2, using unrelated word pairs, again showed no effect of randomized cue duration, this time on associative recognition. Experiments 3 and 4 blocked cue duration and showed equivalent increases in recognition of both R and F single words and word pairs with increasing cue duration. We suggest that any post-cue rehearsal is carried out only when cue duration is predictable, and that such limited rehearsal is equally likely for F items and R items. The consistently better memory for R items than for F items across cue duration depends on selective retrieval involving (1) a rapid retrieval check engaged for R items only and (2) a rapid removal process implemented for F items only.

A case for using methods from natural science in advancing the field of cognitive neuroscience.

Cognitive neuroscience seeks to pinpoint the neural basis of cognitive function. Application of scientific methods can be credited for its advancement within the field of psychology. Past approaches such as phrenology, that linked bumps on the skull to mental capabilities, initially gained popularity, but the lack of experimental testing contributed to its demise. Research in neuropsychology and the use of the double dissociation experimental technique subsequently emerged. Objective measurements of behaviour following selective damage within the brain led to a paradigm shift. More recently, application of the subtraction technique, coupled with the emergence of cognitive neuroimaging tools, has allowed psychologists to isolate and measure specific functions such as language, vision, memory, and recognition of emotion. Importantly, these approaches enable reliable prediction of behaviours, given parameters of brain integrity, a key goal within the field of psychology.

Long-term cognitive and affective consequences of mild traumatic brain injury: comparison with older adults.

OBJECTIVE: Memory and affective processing were compared in young adults with a remote mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), to healthy younger and older adults. We evaluated memory performance when encoding was done under multi-tasking (divided attention) conditions, likely to exacerbate cognitive and psychological symptoms in mTBI. METHODS: Participants studied pairs of unrelated words under either full or divided attention conditions. Memory for single words (item memory) and for pairs of words (associative memory) was then assessed in sequential independent recognition tests, under full attention. RESULTS: Associative memory was poorer than item memory, and worse when encoding was done under divided than full attention. The decline in recognition accuracy from full to divided attention conditions on the associative memory test was significantly greater in mTBI compared to young adults and was similar in magnitude to that observed in older adults under full attention. Self-reported mental and total fatigue increased significantly as performance on the memory tests, following the divided attention condition, decreased, but only in the mTBI group. CONCLUSIONS: Results show lingering memory deficits, and suggest that cognitive tasks may be experienced as psychologically more demanding in those with a mTBI, even months or years after injury.

Brain regions supporting retrieval of words drawn at encoding: fMRI evidence for multimodal reactivation.

Memory for words that are drawn or sketched by the participant, rather than written, during encoding is typically superior. While this drawing benefit has been reliably demonstrated in recent years, there has yet to be an investigation of its neural basis. Here, we asked participants to either create drawings, repeatedly write, or list physical characteristics depicting each target word during encoding. Participants then completed a recognition memory test for target words while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behavioural results showed memory was significantly higher for words drawn than written, replicating the typical drawing effect. Memory for words whose physical characteristics were listed at encoding was also higher than for those written repeatedly, but lower than for those drawn. Voxel-wise analyses of fMRI data revealed two distributed sets of brain regions more active for items drawn relative to written, the left angular gyrus (BA 39) and bilateral frontal (BA 10) regions, suggesting integration and self-referential processing during retrieval of drawn words. Brain-behaviour correlation analyses showed that the size of one's memory benefit for words drawn relative to written at encoding was positively correlated with activation in brain regions linked to visual representation and imagery (BA 17 and cuneus) and motor planning (premotor and supplementary motor areas; BA 6). This study suggests that drawing benefits memory by coactivating multiple sensory traces. Target words drawn during encoding are subsequently remembered by re-engaging visual, motoric, and semantic representations.

Recurrent involuntary memories and mind wandering are related but distinct.

Spontaneous thought is common in daily life, and includes recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively) and mind wandering (MW). Both recurrent IAMs and MW are often unintentional or unconstrained, and both predict symptoms of mental health disorders. However, not all MW is unintentional, and not all IAMs are unconstrained. To what extent do recurrent IAMs and MW converge versus diverge? Undergraduates (N = 2,701) completed self-report measures of recurrent IAMs, trait MW, and psychopathology (i.e., PTSD, depression, anxiety). Regressions indicated that recurrent IAMs were significantly associated with spontaneous MW, but not deliberate MW. Further, both spontaneous MW and recurrent IAMs had unique relationships with disorder symptoms. Results suggest that recurrent IAMs are related to MW to the extent that recurrent IAMs are spontaneous. Conversely, recurrent IAMs are distinct from MW to the extent that recurrent IAMs' associations with disorder symptoms could not be solely explained by trait MW (and vice versa). This work highlights related, but distinguishable, forms of spontaneous thought and their transdiagnostic links with psychopathology.

Disentangling boredom from depression using the phenomenology and content of involuntary autobiographical memories.

Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) are memories retrieved unintentionally and repetitively. We examined whether the phenomenology and content of recurrent IAMs could differentiate boredom and depression, both of which are characterized by affective dysregulation and spontaneous thought. Participants (n = 2484) described their most frequent IAM and rated its phenomenological properties (e.g., valence). Structural topic modeling, a method of unsupervised machine learning, identified coherent content within the described memories. Boredom proneness was positively correlated with depressive symptoms, and both boredom proneness and depressive symptoms were correlated with more negative recurrent IAMs. Boredom proneness predicted less vivid recurrent IAMs, whereas depressive symptoms predicted more vivid, negative, and emotionally intense ones. Memory content also diverged: topics such as relationship conflicts were positively predicted by depressive symptoms, but negatively predicted by boredom proneness. Phenomenology and content in recurrent IAMs can effectively disambiguate boredom proneness from depressive symptoms in a large sample of undergraduate students from a racially diverse university.

Age differences in effectiveness of encoding techniques on memory.

We compared the effectiveness of different encoding techniques across the adult age range. Three hundred participants: 100 younger, 100 middle-aged, and 100 older adults, were asked to encode a set of visually presented concrete and abstract words. Participants were shown target words one at a time, along with prompts (randomly and intermixed, within-subject) to either silently read, read aloud, write, or draw a picture of the target, for a duration of 10-seconds each. On a later free recall test, participants were given 2-minutes to type all the words they could remember from the encoding phase. Across age groups, we showed that drawing, writing, and reading aloud as encoding techniques yielded better memory than silently reading words, with drawing leading to the largest boost. While memory performance did decrease as age increased, it interacted with the encoding technique. Of note, there were no differences in memory performance in middle-aged compared to young adults. Importantly, age differences in memory emerged only when drawing was used as the encoding strategy, in line with previously reported age-related deficits in generating imagery, or integrating it with motoric processes. Despite this, concrete relative to abstract words that were drawn or written during encoding were better retained, regardless of age, suggesting these techniques facilitate formation of age-invariant visuo-spatial representations. Our findings suggest that whether age differences in memory emerge depends on the strategy used at encoding, and the type of information being encoded.

Drawing enhances memory for emotional words.

Past work has demonstrated that drawing a sketch, compared to writing during encoding, improves memory of to-be-remembered words, pictures, and academic terms. We examined whether this benefit extended to emotional materials. In Experiment 1, negative, positive, and neutral words were presented in an encoding phase, with intermixed prompts to either write out or draw a picture representing the word. Participants later freely recalled words by writing them out. Recall was higher for words drawn than for words written at encoding, and the magnitude of the benefit was differentially enhanced for emotional compared to neutral words. In Experiment 2, negative, positive, and neutral words were again presented but encoding type was compared using pure lists between participants. The pattern of memory performance replicated that observed in Experiment 1. Further, the use of drawing as an encoding technique interacted with emotionality, whereby emotional words that were drawn were best remembered. Our results demonstrate that the memory benefit conferred by drawing at encoding extends to emotional materials. Our findings suggest that the use of drawing as an encoding strategy, and the emotionality of the stimulus itself, contributes independently to enhance retention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Symbol superiority: Why $ is better remembered than 'dollar'.

Memory typically is better for information presented in picture format than in word format. Dual-coding theory (Paivio, 1969) proposes that this is because pictures are spontaneously labelled, leading to the creation of two representational codes-image and verbal-whereas words often lead to only a single (verbal) code. With this perspective as motivation, the present investigation asked whether common graphic symbols (e.g.,!@#$%&) are afforded primarily verbal coding, akin to words, or whether they also invoke visual imagery, as do pictures. Across four experiments, participants were presented at study with graphic symbols or words (e.g., $ or 'dollar'). In Experiment 1, memory was assessed using free recall; in Experiment 2, memory was assessed using old-new recognition. In Experiment 3, the word set was restricted to a single category. In Experiment 4, memory for graphic symbols, pictures, and words was directly compared. All four experiments demonstrated a memory benefit for symbols relative to words. In a fifth experiment, machine learning estimations of inherent stimulus memorability were found to predict memory performance in the earlier experiments. This study is the first to present evidence that, like pictures, graphic symbols are better remembered than words, in line with dual-coding theory and with a distinctiveness account. We reason that symbols offer a visual referent for abstract concepts that are otherwise unlikely to be spontaneously imaged.

The Association Between Emotional Expressivity in Autobiographies from Early Adulthood and the Risk of Dementia in the Context of Written Language Skills.

Background: Risk factors for dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease, are complex and span a lifetime. Exploring novel factors, such as characteristics of writing, may provide insight into dementia risk. Objective: To investigate the association between emotional expressivity and risk of dementia in the context of a previously identified risk factor, written language skills. Methods: The Nun Study recruited 678 religious sisters aged 75 + years. Of these, 149 U.S.-born participants had archived autobiographies handwritten at a mean age of 22 years. The autobiographies were scored for frequency of emotion word usage and language skills (e.g., idea density). The association of emotional expressivity and a four-level composite variable (combining high/low emotional expressivity and high/low idea density) with dementia was assessed using logistic regression models adjusted for age, education, and apolipoprotein E. Results: Within the composite variable, odds of dementia increased incrementally, with opposing effects of emotional expressivity across the two idea density levels. Compared to the referent category (low emotional expressivity/high idea density), the risk of dementia increased in those with high emotional expressivity/high idea density (OR = 2.73, 95% CI = 1.05-7.08), while those with low emotional expressivity/low idea density had the highest risk (OR = 18.58, 95% CI = 4.01-86.09). Conclusion: Dementia risk is better captured by inclusion of multiple measures relating to characteristics of writing. Emotional expressivity may be protective when individuals are at increased risk due to poor written language skills (i.e., low idea density), but detrimental when not at risk (i.e., high idea density). Our findings indicate that emotional expressivity is a contextually-dependent novel risk factor for dementia.

Drawing compared to writing in a diary enhances recall of autobiographical memories.

Drawing at encoding has been shown to improve later recall of to-be-remembered words, pictures, and academic terms, compared to when one simply writes out the target information. Here we examined whether drawing in a diary, compared to writing in it, differentially improved later memorability of personal autobiographical events, and whether aging influenced the magnitude of this effect. Thirty younger and thirty older adults were given a diary booklet, and instructed to use it to reminisce about a random daily event of their choosing, on 12 days within a two-week period. They recorded the event on each day in one of two ways, counterbalanced within-subject: by writing about or by drawing a picture of the event. Participants also generated a keyword descriptor for each event. After the two-week period, participants were cued using their keyword descriptors to recall each autobiographical memory by writing it down. Self-reported match accuracy, between reminisced and recalled events was tabulated. Across age groups, match accuracy was significantly higher for those drawn than written during the reminiscing phase. In addition, we compared the word count, level of detail, visual imagery, and point of view of the recalled memories. Self-reports of the level of detail in the recalled memory were better maintained for events drawn compared to written during the reminiscing stage, and better maintained in older than younger adults. Our findings suggest the use of drawing, while reminiscing within a diary format, enhances accuracy and quality of later recollections.

Specific topics, specific symptoms: linking the content of recurrent involuntary memories to mental health using computational text analysis.

Researchers debate whether recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; memories of one's personal past retrieved unintentionally and repetitively) are pathological or ordinary. While some argue that these memories contribute to clinical disorders, recurrent IAMs are also common in everyday life. Here, we examined how the content of recurrent IAMs might distinguish between those that are maladaptive (related to worse mental health) versus benign (unrelated to mental health). Over two years, 6187 undergraduates completed online surveys about recurrent IAMs; those who experienced recurrent IAMs within the past year were asked to describe their memories, resulting in 3624 text descriptions. Using a previously validated computational approach (structural topic modeling), we identified coherent topics (e.g., "Conversations", "Experiences with family members") in recurrent IAMs. Specific topics (e.g., "Negative past relationships", "Abuse and trauma") were uniquely related to symptoms of mental health disorders (e.g., depression, PTSD), above and beyond the self-reported valence of these memories. Importantly, we also found that content in recurrent IAMs was distinct across symptom types (e.g., "Communication and miscommunication" was related to social anxiety, but not symptoms of other disorders), suggesting that while negative recurrent IAMs are transdiagnostic, their content remains unique across different types of mental health concerns. Our work shows that topics in recurrent IAMs-and their links to mental health-are identifiable, distinguishable, and quantifiable.

Aging and directed forgetting: Evidence for an associative deficit but no evidence for an inhibition deficit.

Intentional forgetting aims to prevent unwanted information from being stored in long-term memory. Surprisingly, past research has shown that, relative to younger adults, older adults recall and recognize more to-be-forgotten information. It has been suggested that this occurs because older adults have a deficient ability to inhibit information. In two experiments, we examined memory differences between older and younger adults in an item-method directed forgetting task. Participants viewed words one at a time during a study phase, each followed by a cue to remember (R) or to forget (F). In Experiment 1, participants' later recognition of both types of items was assessed, followed by a separate source discrimination test for the cue that had been associated with each word at study. In Experiment 2, memory was assessed using a three-response recognition test, indicating whether each word was either new or previously studied and, if previously studied, whether it was associated with an R cue or an F cue. In both experiments, older and younger adults recognized more to-be-remembered items than to-be-forgotten items, the typical directed forgetting effect (DFE). Contrary to past reports, older adults did not remember more to-be-forgotten items than did younger adults, inconsistent with an inhibitory deficit. Older adults were, however, less accurate than younger adults in identifying cue associations for both R and F items, consistent instead with an associative memory deficit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Understanding autobiographical memory content using computational text analysis.

Although research on autobiographical memory (AM) continues to grow, there remain few methods to analyze AM content. Past approaches are typically manual, and prohibitively time- and labour-intensive. These methodological limitations are concerning because content may provide insights into the nature and functions of AM. In particular, analyzing content in recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs; those that spring to mind unintentionally and repetitively) could resolve controversies about whether these memories typically involve mundane or distressing events. Here, we present computational methods that can analyze content in thousands of participants' AMs, without needing to hand-code each memory. A sample of 6,187 undergraduates completed surveys about recurrent IAMs, resulting in 3,624 text descriptions. Using frequency analyses, we identified common (e.g., "time", "friend") and distinctive words in recurrent IAMs (e.g., "argument" as distinctive to negative recurrent IAMs). Using structural topic modelling, we identified coherent topics (e.g., "Negative past relationships", "Conversations", "Experiences with family members") within recurrent IAMs and found that topic use significantly differed depending on the valence of these memories. Computational methods allowed us to analyze large quantities of AM content with enhanced granularity and reproducibility. We present the means to enable future research on AM content at an unprecedented scope and scale.

The enactment effect: A systematic review and meta-analysis of behavioral, neuroimaging, and patient studies.

The enactment effect is the phenomenon that physically performing an action represented by a word or phrase (e.g., clap, clap your hands) results in better memory than does simply reading it. We examined data from three different methodological approaches to provide a comprehensive review of the enactment effect across 145 behavioral, 7 neuroimaging, and 31 neurological patient studies. Boosts in memory performance following execution of a physical action were compared to those produced by reading words or phrases, by watching an experimenter perform actions, or by engaging in self-generated imagery. Across the behavioral studies, we employed random-effects meta-regression with robust variance estimation (RVE) to reveal an average enactment effect size of g = 1.23. Further meta-analyses revealed that variations in study design and comparison task reliably influence the size of the enactment effect, whereas four other experiment factors-test format, learning instruction type, retention interval, and the presence of objects during encoding-likely do not influence the effect. Neuroimaging studies demonstrated enactment-related activation to be prevalent in the motor cortex and inferior parietal lobule. Patient studies indicated that, regardless of whether impairments of memory (e.g., Alzheimer's) or of motor capability (e.g., Parkinson's) were present, patients were able to benefit from enactment. The findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis highlight two components accounting for the memory benefit from enactment: a primary mental contribution relating to planning the action and a secondary physical contribution of the action itself. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Machine learning to detect invalid text responses: Validation and comparison to existing detection methods.

A crucial step in analysing text data is the detection and removal of invalid texts (e.g., texts with meaningless or irrelevant content). To date, research topics that rely heavily on analysis of text data, such as autobiographical memory, have lacked methods of detecting invalid texts that are both effective and practical. Although researchers have suggested many data quality indicators that might identify invalid responses (e.g., response time, character/word count), few of these methods have been empirically validated with text responses. In the current study, we propose and implement a supervised machine learning approach that can mimic the accuracy of human coding, but without the need to hand-code entire text datasets. Our approach (a) trains, validates, and tests on a subset of texts manually labelled as valid or invalid, (b) calculates performance metrics to help select the best model, and (c) predicts whether unlabelled texts are valid or invalid based on the text alone. Model validation and evaluation using autobiographical memory texts indicated that machine learning accurately detected invalid texts with performance near human coding, significantly outperforming existing data quality indicators. Our openly available code and instructions enable new methods of improving data quality for researchers using text as data.

Enhancing memory using enactment: does meaning matter in action production?

ABSTRACTEnactment is an encoding strategy in which performing an action related to a target item enhances memory for that word, relative to verbal encoding. Precisely how this motor activity aids recall is unclear. We examined whether the action created during encoding needed to be semantically relevant to the to-be-remembered word, to enhance memory. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to either (a) enact, (b) perform unrelated motoric gestures, or (c) read forty-five action verbs. On a subsequent free-recall test, memory for enacted words was significantly higher relative to words read, or encoded with unrelated gestures. In Experiment 2, to reduce the ambiguity associated with initiating an unrelated gesture, participants were instructed to write target words in the air. Results were similar to Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we replicated the results of Experiment 2 using video conferencing to record the onset time of action initiation for enacted, unrelated gesture, and read trials. Results showed that planning of meaningful actions may also contribute to the memory performance as evidenced by a longer onset time to initiate an action on enactment relative to gesturing and reading trials. These findings suggest that planning and executing meaningful actions drive the enactment benefit.

Recurrent involuntary memories are modulated by age and linked to mental health.

Recurrent involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs), or memories that spring to mind unintentionally and repetitively, are common among younger and older adults. Since older adults show enhanced emotion regulation, we investigated whether their recurrent IAMs were more positive than younger adults'. Additionally, we examined whether recurrent IAMs reflected mental health in both age groups. In our study, community-dwelling older (Mage = 75.6) and younger adults (Mage = 19.7; ns = 95) completed surveys assessing recurrent IAMs (e.g., their frequency, valence) and symptoms of mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress). As hypothesized, age modulated recurrent IAM valence, despite the involuntary nature of these memories: younger adults' recurrent IAMs were disproportionately negative (74%), whereas older adults' were disproportionately positive (60%). Further, experiencing recurrent IAMs-especially negative ones-predicted worse mental health in both younger and older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).