Seeking versus receiving help: How children integrate suggestions in memory decisions.

The current research examined how seeking versus receiving help affected children's memory and confidence decisions. Baseline performance, when no help was available, was compared to performance when help could be sought (Experiment 1: N = 83, 41 females) or was provided (Experiment 2: N = 84, 44 females) in a sample of predominately White 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds from Northern California. Data collection occurred from 2018 to 2019. In Experiment 1, 5-year-olds agreed most often with sought-help, whereas 9-year-olds were the only age group reporting lower confidence for sought-help relative to baseline trials. In Experiment 2, agreement and confidence after provided help were similar across age groups. Different developmental patterns when help was sought versus provided underscore the importance of active help-seeking for memory decision-making.

Developmental differences in value-based remembering: The role of feedback and metacognition.

The ability to prioritize remembering explicitly valuable information is termed value-based remembering. Critically, the processes and contexts that support the development of value-based remembering are largely unknown. The present study examined the effects of feedback and metacognitive differences on value-based remembering in predominantly White adults from a Western university (N = 89) and children aged 9-14 years old recruited nationwide (N = 87). Participants completed an associative recognition task during which they memorized items worth varying point values under one of three feedback conditions (point feedback, memory-accuracy feedback, or no feedback). Developmental differences emerged such that children were most likely to selectively remember high-value items when receiving memory-accuracy feedback while adults were most selective when receiving point-based feedback. Furthermore, adults had more accurate metacognitive insight into how value impacted performance. These findings suggest developmental differences in the effects of feedback in value-based remembering and the role of metacognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Remote Research Methods: Considerations for Work With Children.

The growing shift to online research provides numerous potential opportunities, including greater sample diversity and more efficient data collection. While online methods and recruitment platforms have gained popularity in research with adults, there is relatively little guidance on best practices for how to conduct remote research with children. The current review discusses how to conduct remote behavioral research with children and adolescents using moderated (i.e., real-time interactions between the experimenter and child) and unmoderated (i.e., independent completion of study without experimenter interaction) methods. We examine considerations regarding sample diversity and provide recommendations on implementing remote research with children, including discussions about remote software, study design, and data quality. These recommendations can promote the use of remote research amongst developmental psychologists by contributing to our knowledge of effective online research practices and helping to build standardized guidelines when working with children.

Developmental Differences in Subjective Recollection and Its Role in Decision Making.

We examined how subjective assessments of recollection guide decision making. Subjective recollection was dissociated from accuracy during a forced-choice recognition task. Distracters were either similar to targets (match condition) or to other studied, but untested items (nonmatch condition). We assessed 223 participants (112 males) across three experiments (137 White, 37 Asian-American, 7 African-American, 4 American-Indian, 32 mixed race, 6 undisclosed). In Experiment 1, 6- to 10-year-olds and adults (N = 119) were less accurate (d = 0.70), but more likely to claim subjective recollection and make memory selections in anticipation of a reward in the nonmatch condition (ds = 0.64-0.70). This pattern was eliminated in 6- to 7-year-olds when we limited the number of selections (Experiment 2, N = 52), but was replicated when we required the selections to be counted (Experiment 3, N = 52), underscoring the effects of decision complexity on children's self-reflections.

Response latencies and eye gaze provide insight on how toddlers gather evidence under uncertainty.

Toddlers exhibit behaviours that suggest judicious responses to states of uncertainty (for example, turning to adults for help), but little is known about the informational basis of these behaviours. Across two experiments, of which experiment 2 was a preregistered replication, 160 toddlers (aged 25 to 32 months) identified a target from two partially occluded similar (for example, elephant versus bear) or dissimilar (for example, elephant versus broccoli) images. Accuracy was lower for the similar trials than for the dissimilar trials. By fitting drift-diffusion models to response times, we found that toddlers accumulated evidence more slowly but required less evidence for similar trials compared with dissimilar trials. By analysing eye movements, we found that toddlers took longer to settle on the selected image during inaccurate trials and switched their gaze between response options more frequently during inaccurate trials and accurately identified similar items. Exploratory analyses revealed that the evidence-accumulation parameter correlated positively with the use of uncertainty language. Overall, these findings inform theories on the emergence of evidence accumulation under uncertainty.

Source retrieval under cueing: Dissociated effects on accuracy versus confidence.

During recognition memory decisions, external hints or cues alter the accuracy and confidence of correct rejections (valid > uncued > invalid). In contrast, although hits show analogous accuracy effects, hit confidence remains largely unaffected by cue validity. Prior research suggested this confidence validity dissociation (CVD) may depend upon the presence of recollection during hits. If so, confidence during other recollection dependent tasks such as source memory should show the same insensitivity to cue validity, despite clear changes in accuracy. We tested this in 5 source-memory experiments manipulating encoding location (left or right, Experiments 1, 2, and 5) or study list (first or second, Experiments 3 and 4). At test, memoranda were preceded by predictive arrow cues (75% valid/25% invalid) indicating the likely prior location or list of the source memory probe. Cue validity affected accuracy in all 5 Experiments. Nonetheless, mean confidence for both correct and incorrect source judgments was unaffected by cue validity. These data demonstrate that the subjective confidence of source attributions can become untethered from accuracy when external influences are present. Analyses of previously published recognition data elucidated this finding by showing that confidence is not affected by cue validity for items recognized as "old" regardless of accuracy (i.e., hits and false alarms). However, confidence is affected by cue validity for items judged "new" regardless of accuracy (i.e., correct rejections and misses). We suggest this dissociation depends upon the retrieval schemas and decision heuristics that observers use when concluding items arise from candidate experiences held in mind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Here is a hint! How children integrate reliable recommendations in their memory decisions.

Children's own memory is not the only reliable source of information about past events. Others may possess relevant knowledge, and children must learn to appropriately consider it in combination with their own memories. In the current study, we investigated 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds' (N = 72) ability to incorporate probabilistically reliable (70% accurate) hints into their memory decisions. Results revealed that children across ages were appropriately sensitive to these cues without following them blindly and indiscriminately. Furthermore, individual differences in metamemory monitoring predicted overall accuracy improvements after receiving cues in 9-year-olds but not in 5- and 7-year-olds, revealing a developmental role of metamemory for discerning when cues are most informative or needed. Although 5-year-olds increased overall confidence in their memory after receiving invalid cues, they still preserved the capacity to monitor their memory in the face of inaccurate information. Overall, children were sensitive to reliable recommendations, but developing metacognitive mechanisms predicted judicious benefits from cues.

Longitudinal trajectories of hippocampal and prefrontal contributions to episodic retrieval: Effects of age and puberty.

The current study investigated longitudinal change in hippocampal and prefrontal contribution to episodic retrieval. Functional neuroimaging data were collected during an item-context association memory task for children between the ages of 8 and 14 with individuals scanned 1-3 times over the course of 0.75-3.7 years (Timepoint 1 N = 90; Timepoint 2 N = 83, Timepoint 3 N = 75). We investigated developmental changes in functional activation associated with episodic retrieval (correct item-context > incorrect item-context contrast) and asked whether pubertal changes contributed to developmental changes in pattern of activation. Non-linear developmental trajectories were observed. In the hippocampus, activation decreased with age during childhood and then increased into early adolescence. In the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, activation was largely absent initially, but quickly accelerated over time. Independent of age, changes in pubertal status additionally predicted increases in item-context activation in initially older children, and decreases in initially younger children across both regions and two indicators of puberty: the Pubertal Development Scale and salivary testosterone. These findings suggest that changes in both age and pubertal status uniquely contribute to memory-related activation, and the timing of pubertal onset may play an important role in the neural mechanisms supporting memory retrieval.

Changes in ventromedial prefrontal and insular cortex support the development of metamemory from childhood into adolescence.

Metamemory monitoring, or the ability to introspect on the accuracy of one's memories, improves considerably during childhood, but the underlying neural changes and implications for intellectual development are largely unknown. The present study examined whether cortical changes in key brain areas hypothesized to support metacognition contribute to the development of metamemory monitoring from late childhood into early adolescence. Metamemory monitoring was assessed among 7- to 12-y-old children (n = 145) and adults (n = 31). Children returned for up to two additional assessments at 8 to 14 y of age (n = 120) and at 9 to 15 y of age (n = 107) (n = 347 longitudinal scans). Results showed that metamemory monitoring continues to improve from childhood into adolescence. More pronounced cortical thinning in the anterior insula and a greater increase in the thickness of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex over the three assessment points predicted these improvements. Thus, performance benefits are linked to the unique patterns of regional cortical change during development. Metamemory monitoring at the first time point predicted intelligence at the third time point and vice versa, suggesting parallel development of these abilities and their reciprocal influence. Together, these results provide insights into the neuroanatomical correlates supporting the development of the capacity to self-reflect, and highlight the role of this capacity for general intellectual development.

Ignoring memory hints: The stubborn influence of environmental cues on recognition memory.

Recognition judgments can benefit from the use of environmental cues that signal the general likelihood of encountering familiar versus unfamiliar stimuli. While incorporating such cues is often adaptive, there are circumstances (e.g., eyewitness testimony) in which observers should fully ignore environmental cues in order to preserve memory report fidelity. The current studies used the explicit memory cueing paradigm to examine whether participants could intentionally ignore reliable environmental cues when instructed. Three experiments demonstrated that participants could volitionally dampen the directional influence of environmental cues on their recognition judgments (i.e., whether influenced to respond "old" or "new") but did not fully eliminate their influence. Although monetary incentives diminished the mean influence of cues on responses rates, finer grained individual differences analysis, as well as confidence and RTs analyses, demonstrated that participants were still systematically influenced. These results demonstrate that environmental cues presented at test remain a potent influence on recognition decisions and subjective confidence even when ostensibly ignored. (PsycINFO Database Record

They can take a hint: Older adults effectively integrate memory cues during recognition.

Adaptively biasing recognition judgments in light of environmental cues improves net accuracy. Based on previous work suggesting that strategically shifting biases on a trial-wise basis should be cognitively demanding, the authors predicted that older adults would not achieve the same accuracy benefits from environmental cues as the young. However, despite showing clear declines in cognitive control as indexed by complex span, older adults demonstrated similar accuracy gains and similar alterations of response probabilities with cues of 75% reliability (Experiment 1) and more complex cues spanning 3 levels of reliability (Experiment 2). Despite preserved gains in accuracy, older adults clearly demonstrated disproportionate slowing that was specific to trials in which cues were invalid. This slowing may reflect impairments in behavioral inhibition that could impinge upon accuracy were responding increasingly sped and future work manipulating response speed and measures of inhibition may yield further insights.

Expectations and experience: Dissociable bases for cognitive control?

Classic theories emphasized the role of expectations in the intentional control of attention and action. However, recent theorizing has implicated experience-dependent, online adjustments as the primary basis for cognitive control--adjustments that appear to be implicit (Blais, Harris, Guerrero, & Bunge, 2012). The purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether explicit expectations play any role in cognitive control above and beyond experience. In a novel precued lists paradigm, participants were administered abbreviated lists of Stroop trials. For half of the lists, precues led participants to validly expect lists of varying proportion congruency (e.g., mostly congruent [MC], mostly incongruent [MI]; Experiments 1 to 4). The Stroop effect was greater in cued MC relative to uncued MC lists. By contrast, the Stroop effect was equivalent in cued MI and uncued MI lists. Only when preparation was encouraged via a speed manipulation (Experiment 3) or incentives (Experiment 4) did we find evidence of heightened control when an MI list was expected, in the form of a short-lived reduction in the Stroop effect on the first (experience-free) trial. These patterns suggest (a) expectations play a role in the relaxation of cognitive control, independent of experience (as also shown in Experiment 5, wherein expectations were varied while holding experience constant across lists), but (b) experience is the dominant basis for the sustained heightening of cognitive control (after the first trial). Theoretical implications of dissociating the contributions of expectations and experience to cognitive control are discussed, including interpretations of the list-wide proportion congruence effect.

Relating the content and confidence of recognition judgments.

The Remember/Know procedure, developed by Tulving (1985) to capture the distinction between the conscious correlates of episodic and semantic retrieval, has spawned considerable research and debate. However, only a handful of reports have examined the recognition content beyond this dichotomous simplification. To address this, we collected participants' written justifications in support of ordinary old/new recognition decisions accompanied by confidence ratings using a 3-point scale (high/medium/low). Unlike prior research, we did not provide the participants with any descriptions of Remembering or Knowing and thus, if the justifications mapped well onto theory, they would do so spontaneously. Word frequency analysis (unigrams, bigrams, and trigrams), independent ratings, and machine learning techniques (Support Vector Machine [SVM]) converged in demonstrating that the linguistic content of high and medium confidence recognition differs in a manner consistent with dual process theories of recognition. For example, the use of "I remember," particularly when combined with temporal or perceptual information (e.g., "when," "saw," "distinctly"), was heavily associated with high confidence recognition. Conversely, participants also used the absence of remembering for personally distinctive materials as support for high confidence new reports ("would have remembered"). Thus, participants afford a special status to the presence or absence of remembering and use this actively as a basis for high confidence during recognition judgments. Additionally, the pattern of classification successes and failures of a SVM was well anticipated by the dual process signal detection model of recognition and inconsistent with a single process, strictly unidimensional approach.

Metacognitive awareness and adaptive recognition biases.

Prior literature has primarily focused on the negative influences of misleading external sources on memory judgments. This study investigated whether participants can capitalize on generally reliable recommendations in order to improve their net performance; the focus was on potential roles for metacognitive monitoring (i.e., knowledge about one's own memory reliability) and performance feedback. In Experiment 1, participants received explicit external recommendations (Likely Old or Likely New) that were 75% valid during recognition tests containing deeply and shallowly encoded materials. In Experiment 2, participants received recommendations of differing validity (65% and 85%). Discrimination improved across both experiments when external recommendations were present versus absent. This improvement was influenced by metacognitive monitoring ability measured in the absence of recommendations. Thus, effective incorporation of external recommendations depended in part on how sensitive observers were to gradations of their internal evidence when recommendations were absent. Finally, corrective feedback did not improve participants' ability to use external recommendations, suggesting that metacognitive monitoring ability during recognition is not easily improved via feedback.

Prefrontal cortex contributions to controlled memory judgment: fMRI evidence from adolescents and young adults.

Cortical regions supporting cognitive control and memory judgment are structurally immature in adolescents. Here we studied adolescents (13-15 y.o.) and young adults (20-22 y.o.) using a recognition memory paradigm that modulates cognitive control demands through cues that probabilistically forecast memory probe status. Behaviorally, adolescence was associated with quicker responding in the presence of invalid cues compared to young adulthood. fMRI data demonstrated that while both groups increasingly activated posterior dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC), midline, and lateral parietal regions for invalidly compared to validly cued trials, this differential invalid cueing response ended sooner in adolescents, consistent with their quicker responding on invalidly cued trials. Critically, dlPFC also demonstrated reversed brain-behavior associations across the groups. Increased mean dlPFC activation during invalid cueing was linked to improved performance in young adults, whereas increases within adolescents were linked to impaired performance. Resting state connectivity analysis revealed greater connectivity between dlPFC and episodic retrieval linked regions in young adults relative to adolescents. These data demonstrate that the functional interpretation of dlPFC activation hinges on its physical maturation and suggest that the pattern of behavioral and neural response in adolescents reflects different functional integration of cognitive control and memory systems.

The costs and benefits of memory conformity.

We examined the influence of external recommendations on memory attributions. In two experiments, participants were led to believe that they were viewing the responses of two prior students to the same memoranda they were currently judging. However, they were not informed of the reliability of these fictive sources of cues or provided with performance feedback as testing proceeded. Experiment 1 demonstrated improvement in the presence of reliable source cues (75% valid), as compared to uncued recognition, whereas performance was unaltered in the presence of random cues provided by an unreliable source (50% valid). Critically, participants did not ignore the unreliable source, but instead appeared to restrict cue use from both sources to low-confidence trials on which internal evidence was highly unreliable. Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants continued to treat an unreliable source as potentially informative even when it was predominantly incorrect (25% valid), highlighting severe limitations in the ability to adequately discount unreliable or deceptive sources of memory cues. Thus, under anonymous source conditions, observers appear to use a low-confidence outsourcing strategy, wherein they restrict reliance on external cues to situations of low confidence.

Investigation of amygdala volume in men with the fragile X premutation.

Premutation fragile X carriers have a CGG repeat expansion (55 to 200 repeats) in the promoter region of the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene. Amygdala dysfunction has been observed in premutation symptomatology, and recent research has suggested the amygdala as an area susceptible to the molecular effects of the premutation. The current study utilizes structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the relationship between amygdala volume, CGG expansion size, FMR1 mRNA, and psychological symptoms in male premutation carriers without FXTAS compared with age and IQ matched controls. No significant between group differences in amygdala volume were found. However, a significant negative correlation between amygdala volume and CGG was found in the lower range of CGG repeat expansions, but not in the higher range of CGG repeat expansions.