The word length effect in backward recall: the role of response modality.

In immediate serial recall, it is well known that participants are better at recalling short rather than long words. This benchmark memory effect, known as word length effect, has been observed numerous times in forward recall. However, in backward recall, when participants are required to recall items in the reverse order, contradictory findings have been reported. For instance, in some studies, the word length effect was abolished in backward recall, whereas in others it was maintained. In the present study, we investigated the role of response modality in accounting for this discrepancy. Our results showed that in forward recall, the word length effect is unaffected by response modality. In backward recall with a manual response (click or written), the word length effect is as large as in forward recall. Critically, when participants recalled a word orally, the word length effect was severely reduced in backward recall. We concluded that response modality interacts with the processes called upon in backward recall.

Overt language production plays a key role in the Hebb repetition effect.

When asked to recall verbatim a short list of items, performance is very limited. However, if the list of items is repeated across trials, recall performance improves. This phenomenon, known as the Hebb repetition effect (Hebb, 1961; Brain Mechanisms and Learning: A Symposium, pp. 37-51), is considered a laboratory analogue of language learning. In effect, learning a new word implies the maintenance of a series of smaller units, such as phonemes or syllables, in the correct order for a short amount of time before producing them. The sequence of smaller units is typically presented more than once. In the present study, we investigated the role of overt language production in language learning by manipulating recall direction. If the learning of a repeated list of items relies on overt language production processes, changing list production order by manipulating recall direction should impact the learning of the list. In Experiment 1, one list was repeated every third trial, and recall direction of the repeated list changed on the ninth repetition. In Experiment 1a, the repeated list changed from a forward to a backward order recall, where participants had to recall the items in reverse presentation order. In Experiment 1b, the repeated list changed from a backward to a forward order recall. Results showed a cost in recall performance for the repeated list when recall direction switched from forward to backward recall, whereas it was unaffected by the change from backward to forward recall. In Experiment 2, we increased the number of trials before introducing the change from a backward to a forward order recall. Results showed a decrement in recall performance for the repeated list following the change in recall direction, suggesting that language production processes play a role in the Hebb repetition effect.

Are lexical factors immune to response modality in backward recall? The effects of imageability and word frequency.

In immediate serial recall, it is well established that performance is influenced by lexical factors such as imageability and word frequency. However, when participants are asked to recall the to-be-remembered items in their reverse order, known as backward recall, lexical factors produced contradictory findings. In 4 experiments, we tested the role of response modality in modulating the effects of imageability and word frequency in backward recall. The magnitude of the 2 tested lexical factors was only slightly reduced in backward compared with forward recall when participants responded manually. Critically, when participants recalled words orally, the magnitude of the lexical factors was severely reduced in backward recall. It is concluded that response modality has a strong influence on the memory processes involved in backward recall. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Hebb repetition effect as a laboratory analogue of language acquisition: Learning three lists at no cost.

The Hebb repetition effect (i.e., the enhanced recall performance for a sequence of items that is repeated during a serial recall experiment) is considered an experimental analogue to language learning. However, although language learning occurs in a context in which multiple verbal sequences are repeated concurrently, the effect of increasing the number of repeated sequences in the Hebb repetition paradigm has received little attention, and previous studies have used tasks that depart considerably from the natural language learning experience. In the present study, we manipulated the number of repeated sequences in a Hebb repetition paradigm that is a close experimental analogue of language learning. Participants were asked to orally recall sequences of 7 nonsense syllables that were aurally presented. The paradigm included 1 or 3 sequences that were repeated every 4th trial. The results showed that participants could learn 3 sequences simultaneously and they could do so as easily as they would learn a single sequence. The results provide additional evidence to models relating the Hebb repetition effect to word-form learning. (PsycINFO Database Record

The role of overt language production in the Hebb repetition effect.

The Hebb repetition effect (Hebb, 1961) occurs when recall performance improves for a list that is repeated during a serial-recall task. This effect is considered a good experimental analogue to language learning. Our objective was to evaluate the role of overt language production in language learning by manipulating recall direction during a Hebb repetition paradigm. In each trial, seven nonsense syllables were presented auditorily. Participants had to orally recall the items either in the presentation order or in reverse order. One sequence was repeated every third trial. In Experiment 1, we compared learning from a group that had recalled the items in their presentation order to learning from a group that had recalled the items in the reverse order. The two groups yielded similar learning rates. In Experiment 2, recall direction was varied between trials. The learning rate was not affected when recall direction varied between trials, suggesting a limited role of overt language production in language learning.

The role of motor affordances in immediate and long-term retention of objects.

In line with the embodied cognition perspective stating that cognitive processing results from the activation of the sensorimotor systems involved in perception and action (e.g., Glenberg, 1997), recent studies provided evidence that motor affordances played a role in serial memory for objects (e.g., see Downing-Doucet & Guérard, 2014). In the present study, we extended this line of research by investigating whether objects' motor affordances played a role in item memory, in immediate and long-term retention. Participants had to retain pairs of objects that were positioned in a way that was congruent for action or not. The results showed that motor suppression disrupted the retention of congruent pairs, but not that of incongruent pairs when short lists of six objects had to be retained over a short period of time (Experiment 1). However, when participants had to retain lists of 60 pairs, motor suppression had no effect on retention (Experiment 2). These results suggest that the motor system was recruited for the immediate retention of objects, but not for their long-term retention.

Learning multiple lists at the same time in the Hebb repetition effect.

In short-term ordered recall, when 1 list of items is repeated over the course of the experiment, recall performance typically improves. This is known as the Hebb repetition effect (Hebb, 1961). In the present study, we contrasted the typical condition involving a single repeated sequence with concurrent learning of 2 repeated sequences. Participants performed a spatial recall task, in which sequences of 7 dots were presented in each trial. For a given participant, the location of the dots were the same for all trials. Presentation order of dots varied randomly, except for 1 or 2 particular series that were repeated every 4 trials. Results revealed a significant learning slope for both the single and dual list conditions and learning was as efficient in both conditions. The findings provide further evidence in support of models linking the Hebb repetition effect to word-form learning.

When motor congruency modulates immediate memory for objects.

In line with the embodied cognition view, some researchers have suggested that our capacity to retain information relies on the perceptual and motor systems used to interact with our environment (Barsalou, 1999; Glenberg, 1997). For instance, the language production architecture would be responsible for the retention of verbal materials such as a list of words (Acheson & MacDonald, 2009). However, evidence for the role of the motor system in object memory is still limited. In the present experiments, participants were asked to retain lists of objects in memory. During encoding, participants had to pantomime an action to grasp (Experiments 1A & 1B) or to use the objects (Experiment 2) that was either congruent or incongruent with the objects to be retained. The results showed that performing an incongruent action impaired memory performance compared to a congruent action. This suggests that motor affordances play a role during object retention. The results are discussed in light of the embodied cognition view.

Phonological effects in forward and backward serial recall: qualitative and quantitative differences.

Forward serial recall is affected by a diverse range of phonological factors that are readily replicated and relatively well understood. In contrast with backward recall, these phonological effects are not consistently replicable in that some studies show that the effects are present and some show the effects are absent or severely attenuated. Moreover at the theoretical level there is no consensus about how participants perform backward recall. The current research was aimed at understanding the differences between forward and backward recall by using meta-analytic techniques on 16 previously published experiments that examined the effects of benchmark phonological factors on both forward and backward recall. In each of the studies, recall was decomposed into 2 components, the first 2 items output and the remaining later responses. A consistent pattern emerged in the data. Each effect was present in both the early and late output positions in forward recall. The effects were present in the late output positions in backward recall, but the effects were weaker than in forward recall. The phonological variables had little impact on early output in backward recall (with the exceptions of articulatory suppression). The presence of qualitative differences between forward and backward recall and quantitative differences between studies have implications for the theoretical understanding of direction of recall in immediate memory tasks.

Manipulability agreement as a predictor of action initiation latency.

In the domain of cognition, an increasing number of researchers are interested in the role of objects' motor affordances in cognitive processing. However, outside of the existing norms on the objects' levels of manipulability (e.g., Magnié, Besson, Poncet, & Dolisi, Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 25:521-560,2003), relatively few norms exist that would allow researchers to have good control over objects' motor dimensions. In the present study, we have provided norms on the extent to which participants agreed about the movements typically performed for using specific objects--what we will call manipulability agreement. We showed that manipulability agreement was a good predictor of the times needed to initiate the action associated with the object. This study provides ratings on a new dimension of objects' motor affordances that could be useful to researchers in the domain of visual cognition.

Four types of manipulability ratings and naming latencies for a set of 560 photographs of objects.

The role of objects' motor affordances in cognition is a topic that has gained in popularity over the last decades. However, few studies exist that have normed the different motor dimensions of the objects; this limits researchers regarding usable stimuli, as well as comparability between studies. In the present study, we normed a set of 560 objects on four motor dimensions: the ease with which they can be grasped, moved, and pantomimed and the number of actions they afford. We then examined whether these four dimensions predict objects' naming latency. We believe that these norms will allow researchers interested in the role of motor affordances to have a better control over the dimensions they want to manipulate.

A motor isolation effect: when object manipulability modulates recall performance.

Previous studies suggested that the language production architecture is recruited during verbal retention, and others proposed that spatial memory relies on the oculomotor system. The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of the motor system in object memory, by examining the effect of objects' affordances on retention. In a serial recall task, we manipulated the manipulability of objects to retain in memory. We used an isolation paradigm where we isolated the manipulability level of one object from the list. We showed that recall performance improved for the isolated object (Experiment 1) and that this advantage was abolished when participants were required to perform motor suppression during the task (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, we showed that the abolition of the motor isolation effect in Experiment 2 was not due to an effect of distraction since motor suppression was shown not to interfere with a semantic isolation effect. It is argued that motor affordances play a role in object memory, but only when the motor characteristics of an object allow discriminating it from the other objects in the list.

Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS) phase II: 930 new normative photos.

Researchers have only recently started to take advantage of the developments in technology and communication for sharing data and documents. However, the exchange of experimental material has not taken advantage of this progress yet. In order to facilitate access to experimental material, the Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS) project was created as a free standardized set of visual stimuli accessible to all researchers, through a normative database. The BOSS is currently the largest existing photo bank providing norms for more than 15 dimensions (e.g. familiarity, visual complexity, manipulability, etc.), making the BOSS an extremely useful research tool and a mean to homogenize scientific data worldwide. The first phase of the BOSS was completed in 2010, and contained 538 normative photos. The second phase of the BOSS project presented in this article, builds on the previous phase by adding 930 new normative photo stimuli. New categories of concepts were introduced, including animals, building infrastructures, body parts, and vehicles and the number of photos in other categories was increased. All new photos of the BOSS were normalized relative to their name, familiarity, visual complexity, object agreement, viewpoint agreement, and manipulability. The availability of these norms is a precious asset that should be considered for characterizing the stimuli as a function of the requirements of research and for controlling for potential confounding effects.

The role of verbal memory in regressions during reading is modulated by the target word's recency in memory.

During reading, a number of eye movements are made backward, on words that have already been read. Recent evidence suggests that such eye movements, called regressions, are guided by memory. Several studies point to the role of spatial memory, but evidence for the role of verbal memory is more limited. In the present study, we examined the factors that modulate the role of verbal memory in regressions. Participants were required to make regressions on target words located in sentences displayed on one or two lines. Verbal interference was shown to affect regressions, but only when participants executed a regression on a word located in the first part of the sentence, irrespective of the number of lines on which the sentence was displayed. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the effect of verbal interference on words located in the first part of the sentence disappeared when participants initiated the regression from the middle of the sentence. Our results suggest that verbal memory is recruited to guide regressions, but only for words read a longer time ago.

A motor similarity effect in object memory.

In line with theories of embodied cognition (e.g., Versace et al. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21, 522-560, 2009), several studies have suggested that the motor system used to interact with objects in our environment is involved in object recognition (e.g., Helbig, Graf, & Kiefer Experimental Brain Research, 174, 221-228, 2006). However, the role of the motor system in immediate memory for objects is more controversial. The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of the motor system in object memory by manipulating the similarity between the actions associated to series of objects to be retained in memory. In Experiment 1, we showed that lists of objects associated to dissimilar actions were better recalled than lists associated to similar actions. We then showed that this effect was abolished when participants were required to perform a concurrent motor suppression task (Experiment 2) and when the objects to be memorized were unmanipulable (Experiment 3). The motor similarity effect provides evidence for the role of motor affordances in object memory.

Delineating the contribution of long-term associations to immediate recall.

In the present study we examined the contribution of semantic associative links to short-term recall performance by using the separation effect first introduced in free recall studies (Glanzer, 1969). Pairs of associated words were inserted in the to-be-remembered lists. In two experiments associated words were better recalled than non-associated words, and were better recalled when they were adjacent in the list than when they were separated by one non-associated item. In addition results showed that forward associative links among pair members were as beneficial to immediate serial recall as backward associative links. Finally the benefit of associative links among pair members was observed with both forward and backward recall.

Neither separate nor equivalent: relationships between feature representations within bound objects.

Evidence suggests that binding, or encoding a feature with respect to other features in time and space, can convey cognitive advantages. However, evidence across many kinds of stimuli and paradigms presents a mixed picture, alternatively showing cognitive costs or cognitive advantages associated with maintaining bound representations. We examined memory for colored letters drawn from similar and distinct color sets under circumstances that encouraged or discouraged the maintenance of color-letter binding. Our results confirmed previous change recognition research showing feature recognition improvement under explicit instructions to maintain binding. Color memory improved during binding, showing a reduced detrimental effect of feature similarity on retrieval, particularly when the letter served as the retrieval cue for a letter-color object. We found that feature recognition improved when two conditions were met: 1) relationships between features were to-be-remembered, and 2) the feature conjunction was relevant at test. Our results further suggest that this feature advantage arises because the encoded relationship between the features facilitates retrieval, not because features and objects are represented simultaneously in separate buffers.

The role of verbal memory in regressions during reading.

During reading, participants generally move their eyes rightward on the line. A number of eye movements, called regressions, are made leftward, to words that have already been fixated. In the present study, we investigated the role of verbal memory during regressions. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to read sentences for comprehension. After reading, they were asked to make a regression to a target word presented auditorily. The results revealed that their regressions were guided by memory, as they differed from those of a control group who did not read the sentences. The role of verbal memory during regressions was then investigated by combining the reading task with articulatory suppression (Exps. 2 and 3). The results showed that articulatory suppression affected the size and the accuracy of the initial regression but had a minimal effect on corrective saccades. This suggests that verbal memory plays an important role in determining the location of the initial saccade during regressions.

Norms for grip agreement for 296 photographs of objects.

An increasing number of studies are investigating the cognitive processes underlying human-object interactions. For instance, several researchers have manipulated the type of grip associated with objects in order to study the role of the objects' motor affordances in cognition. The objective of the present study was to develop norms for the types of grip employed when grasping and using objects, with a set of 296 photographs of objects. On the basis of these ratings, we computed measures of agreement to evaluate the extent to which participants agreed about the grip used to interact with these objects. We also collected ratings on the dissimilarity between the grips employed for grasping and for using objects, as well as the number of actions that can typically be performed with the objects. Our results showed grip agreements of 67 % for grasping and of 65 % for using objects. Moreover, our pattern of correlations is highly consistent with the idea that the grips for grasping and using objects represent two different motor dimensions of the objects.