Guess what? Different source-guessing strategies for old versus new information.

The probability-matching account states that learned specific episodic contingencies of item types and source dominate over general schematic expectations in source guessing. However, recent evidence from Bell et al. [(2020). Source attributions for detected new items: Persistent evidence for schematic guessing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 73(9), 1407-1422] suggest that this only applies to source guessing for information that is recognised as belonging to a previously encoded episode. When information was detected as being new, participants persisted in applying schematic knowledge about the sources' profession. This dissociation in source guessing for detected-old and detected-new information may have been fostered by the specific source-monitoring paradigm by Bell et al. (2020) in which sources were a group of individuals in a certain profession rather than fixed persons from that profession for whom episodic contingencies are more likely to persist also for new information. The aim of the present study was to test whether source guessing for detected-old versus detected-new information also dissociates in a more typical source-monitoring task, the doctor-lawyer paradigm, in which one individual doctor and one lawyer present profession-related information. Despite this change in paradigm, source guessing was based on the item-source contingency only for detected-old information, whereas schematic knowledge persisted for detected-new information. The present study thus adds evidence for persistent schema-based source guessing for new information.

Is knowledge reliance in source guessing a cognitive trait? Examining stability across time and domain.

When people need to infer the source of information in the absence of memory, they may rely on general knowledge (e.g., stereotypes) to guess the source. Prior research documented task-related determinants and individual differences of stereotype reliance in source guessing, but little is known about the underling nature of this process. In two experiments, we tested whether a cognitive trait could account for the knowledge reliance in source guessing. Participants performed two distinct study-test cycles of a classical source-monitoring paradigm in which two person sources present stereotypical information that in a later test phase had to be attributed to its origin. In Experiment 1, both tasks used item material from the same knowledge domain (age stereotypes) and were either separated by 10 minutes or 7 days. In Experiment 2, we used item material from two different knowledge domains (Task 1: age stereotypes; Task 2: gender stereotypes). Although cross-task correlations of source-guessing parameters from Bayesian-hierarchical multinomial processing tree model analyses showed only weak positive correlations, absolute source guessing remained fairly stable within individuals across time (Experiment 1) and knowledge domains (Experiment 2). Considering statistical challenges of the assessment of relative stability via correlations, we suggest based on the stricter absolute stability criterion that source guessing rather encompasses trait-like features. We discuss implications regarding the generalizability and nature of source guessing in comparison to other cognitive processes involved in source attribution, which were highly stable in both experiments.

Multidimensionality of Younger and Older Adults' Age Stereotypes: The Interaction of Life Domain and Adjective Dimension.

OBJECTIVES: The authors investigated the sources of age-stereotype multidimensionality with the help of personal everyday statements that differed with respect to life domain (e.g., family and partnership vs financial matters) and the adjective dimension reflected in the behavior (e.g., autonomous vs instrumental behavior). METHOD: A total of 368 statements reflecting autonomy-, instrumentality-, or integrity-related behaviors in five different life domains were generated. Sixty-nine younger (18-26 years) and 74 older (60-84 years) participants rated the typicality of each statement for either a "young adult" or an "old adult." RESULTS: Occurrence and direction of age stereotypes varied by life domain and adjective dimension and ultimately depended on the specific combination of both factors (i.e., a significant interaction). For example, old adults were expected to be optimistic about religious aspects but not about their health, fitness, and appearance. DISCUSSION: The findings highlight the multidimensionality and complexity of age stereotypes based on a wide array of personal everyday statements.