Source-monitoring judgments about anagrams and their solutions: evidence for the role of cognitive operations information in memory.

Generating solutions to anagrams leads to a memory advantage for those solutions, with generated words remembered better than words simply read. However, an additional advantage is not typically found for solutions to difficult anagrams relative to solutions to easy ones, presenting a challenge for the cognitive effort explanation of the generation effect. In the present series of experiments, the effect of manipulating anagram difficulty is explored further by introducing two new source-monitoring judgments. These studies demonstrate that when attention is directed at test to the operations activated during encoding (by way of source-monitoring judgments focused on solving vs. constructing anagrams), a source advantage is observed for difficult anagrams. However, when attention is directed to the anagrams themselves, asking participants to remember the kinds of anagrams generated or solved (based on kind of rule rather than subjective impressions of difficulty), a similar source advantage is not observed. The present studies bring a new perspective to the investigation of difficulty manipulations on memory for problem solving by illustrating the impact of a shift in focus from the effort mediating cognitive operations to specifics about the cognitive operations themselves.

Remembering more than meets the eye: a study of memory confusions about incomplete visual information.

The purpose of this series of four experiments was to examine the possible role of spontaneous imagery in memory confusions about the way in which visual information had been experienced. After viewing pictures of familiar objects, complete or incomplete in visual form, participants were asked to remember the way in which the objects had been presented. Although, as predicted, memory for the objects themselves was quite good, participants falsely remembered seeing complete versions of pictures that were actually presented as incomplete. These false reports were observed across a variety of encoding and testing conditions. The results suggest that the false reports (referred to here as completion errors) are due to internal representations based on filling-in processes in response to the encoding of incomplete visual information. As such, the results also speak to alternative explanations for the completion errors and, more broadly, to theoretical perspectives that draw on filling-in processes when accounting for object identification and object memory.

Anticipating partners' responses: examining item and source memory following interactive exchanges.

Within the context of an interactive anagram-solving task, the present studies tested predictions about the role of cognitive anticipation in both source and item memory. After working in pairs to solve anagram problems, participants were surprised by a source-monitoring test focused on the source of solutions (self vs. partner, Experiment 1) or a standard recognition test focused on the solutions themselves (Experiment 2). With the intention of affecting the opportunity to anticipate partners' solutions, two variables were manipulated: anagram difficulty (easy vs. hard) and the delaybetween the presentation of an anagram problem and theprompt tha t designated one member of each pair as the anagram solver. Consistent w i th predictions, asthe opportunity t oanticipate partners'solutions increased, there was a decrease in source accuracy suggesting increased confusion about whether the solution had been self- or partner-generated. Generation-effect failures were observed in item memory. However, these failures reflected increases in item memory for partners' responses rather than decreases in memory for self-generated ones. These studies suggest that when opportunities to anticipate partners' responses are available, self-generative activities may be associated with both self-and partner-generated items, influencing the expression of the generation effect.

Adapting a memory framework (source monitoring) to the study of closure processes.

The present experiments adapt a memory framework (source monitoring) to the study of closure processes. Closure processes are invoked as explanatory mechanisms underlying the ability to identify objects under conditions of incomplete visual information. If closure processes are activated, filling in missing pieces of visual information, intriguing memory predictions follow. When making source judgments about the way in which visual information was experienced initially (e.g., complete or incomplete in form), a particular kind of memory error should be evident. Incomplete visual information should be remembered as complete in form, and indeed, this error is observed. The present experiments test alternative interpretations for the initial reports of this memory error in the context of a search task modeled after the Where's Waldo? children's books. The effects of several new factors (e.g., familiarity) are reported, and alternative interpretations for the bias to report complete are eliminated. Findings, therefore, have implications for understanding the mechanisms of closure processes, as well as for the source-monitoring framework itself.