The emotional recall task : juxtaposing recall and recognition-based affect scales

Existing affect scales typically involve recognition of emotions from a predetermined emotion checklist. However, a recognition-based checklist may fail to capture sufficient breadth and specificity of an individual’s recalled emotional experiences and may therefore miss emotions that frequently come to mind. More generally, how do recalled emotions differ from recognized emotions? To address these issues, we present and evaluate an affect scale based on recalled emotions. Participants are asked to produce 10 words that best described their emotions over the past month and then to rate each emotion for how often it was experienced. We show that average weighted valence of the words produced in this task, the Emotional Recall Task (ERT), is strongly correlated with scales related to general affect, such as the PANAS, Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales, and a few other related scales. We further show that the Emotional Recall Task captures a breadth and specificity of emotions not available in other scales but that are nonetheless commonly reported as experienced emotions. We test a general version of the ERT (the ERT general) that is language neutral and can be used across cultures. Finally, we show that the ERT is valid in a test-retest paradigm. In sum, the ERT measures affect based on emotion terms relevant to an individual’s idiosyncratic experience. It is consistent with recognition-based scales, but also offers a new direction towards enriching our understanding of individual differences in recalled and recognized emotions

Recall error and recall bias in life course epidemiology

OBJECTIVES I propose a distinction between recall error and recall bias and examine the the effect of childhood financial hardship on adult health, subject to such recall problems. Studying the effect of childhood hardship on adult health is a prototypical investigation in life course studies where both non-clinical factors and long-duration processes are at play in determining health outcome. These factors and processes are often elicited retrospectively. Unfortunately, retrospective information on childhood hardship is often subject to recall error and recall bias. There is surprisingly little methodological work on how to purge their effects in retrospective life course studies. METHODS I recast a variant of generalised latent variable models as covariate error measurement model to purge recall error in life course study. Additionally, I recast the endogeneous treatment model as a solution to the problem of recall bias. I apply both models to examine the effect of childhood financial hardship on adult health status of more than 359,000 European respondents from 23 countries. In addition, I validate the solutions using the National Child Development Study cohort where both prospective and restrospective information are available. RESULTS Childhood financial hardship has a strong effect on adult health status. Once recall error is accounted for in a generalised latent variable model, the effect reduced by an order of magnitude though remain statistically significant. Applying the endogeneous treatment model of recall bias suggests that childhood hardship is systematically misreported by respondents. Once this bias is purged, the effect of childhood deprivation on adult health increased markedly. Such an increase is consistent with multiple direct and indirect pathways linking childhood hardship and adult health. CONCLUSION Problems of recall error and recall bias are common in life course retrospective studies. Applied to data from 23 European countries, the proposed solutions recover the effect of childhood hardship on adult health outcome.recall bias; generalised latent variable model; life course; childhood hardship; European Survey of Income and Living Conditions; EUSILC; NCDS

Initial Free Recall Data Characterized and Explained By Activation Theory of Short Term Memory

The initial recall distribution in a free recall experiment is shown to be predictably different from the overall free recall distribution including an offset which can cause the least remembered items to be almost completely absent from the first recall. Using the overall free recall distribution as input and a single parameter describing the probability of simultaneous reactivated items per number of items in the presented list, activation theory not only qualitatively but quantitatively describes the initial recall distributions of data by Murdock (1962) and Kahana et al (2002). That the initial free recall can be simply explained in terms of the overall recall suggests that theories of memory based on interference or other context sensitive information are false since knowledge of the future would have to be incorporated to predict the initial recall

Word Free Recall Search Scales Linearly With Number of Items Recalled

I find that the total search time in word free recall, averaged over item position, increases linearly with the number of items recalled. Thus the word free recall search algorithm scales the same as the low-error recognition of integers (Sternberg, 1966). The result suggests that both simple integer recognition and the more complex word free recall use the same search algorithm. The proportionality constant of 2-4 seconds per item (a hundred times larger than for integer recognition) is a power function of the proportion not remembered and seems to be the same function for word free recall in young and old subjects, high and low presentation rates and delayed and immediate free recall. The linear scaling of the search algorithm is different from what is commonly assumed to be the word free recall search algorithm, search by random sampling. The linearity of the word free recall extends down to 3 items which presents a challenge to the prevalent working memory theory in which 3-5 items are proposed to be stored in a separate high-availability store

Recall termination in free recall

Although much is known about the dynamics of\ud memory search in the free recall task, relatively little is\ud known about the factors related to recall termination. Rean-\ud alyzing individual trial data from 14 prior studies (1,079\ud participants in 28,015 trials) and defining termination as\ud occurring when a final response is followed by a long\ud nonresponse interval, we observed that termination proba-\ud bility increased throughout the recall period and that retriev-\ud al was more likely to terminate following an error than\ud following a correct response. Among errors, termination\ud probability was higher following prior-list intrusions and\ud repetitions than following extralist intrusions. To verify that\ud this pattern of results can be seen in a single study, we report\ud a new experiment in which 80 participants contributed recall\ud data from a total of 9,122 trials. This experiment replicated\ud the pattern observed in the aggregate analysis of the prior\ud studies.\u

The Preservation of Cued Recall in the Acute Mentally Fatigued State: A Randomised Crossover Study.

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of acute mental fatigue on the recall of clinical information in the non-sleep-deprived state. Acute mental fatigue in the non-sleep-deprived subject is rarely studied in the medical workforce. Patient handover has been highlighted as an area of high risk especially in fatigued subjects. This study evaluates the deterioration in recall of clinical information over 2 h with cognitively demanding work in non-sleep-deprived subjects.A randomised crossover study involving twenty medical students assessed free (presentation) and cued (MCQ) recall of clinical case histories at 0 and 2 h under low and high cognitive load using the N-Back task. Acute mental fatigue was assessed through the Visual Analogue Scale, Stanford Scale and NASA-TLX Mental Workload Rating Scale.Free recall is significantly impaired by increased cognitive load (p < 0.05) with subjects demonstrating perceived mental fatigue during the high cognitive load assessment. There was no significant difference in the amount of information retrieved by cued recall under high and low cognitive load conditions (p = 1).This study demonstrates the loss of clinical information over a short time period involving a mentally fatiguing, high cognitive load task. Free recall for the handover of clinical information is unreliable. Memory cues maintain recall of clinical information. This study provides evidence towards the requirement for standardisation of a structured patient handover. The use of memory cues (involving recognition memory and cued recall methodology) would be beneficial in a handover checklist to aid recall of clinical information and supports evidence for their adoption into clinical practice

Characterizing perfect recall using next-step temporal operators in S5 and sub-S5 Epistemic Temporal Logic

We review the notion of perfect recall in the literature on interpreted systems, game theory, and epistemic logic. In the context of Epistemic Temporal Logic (ETL), we give a (to our knowledge) novel frame condition for perfect recall, which is local and can straightforwardly be translated to a defining formula in a language that only has next-step temporal operators. This frame condition also gives rise to a complete axiomatization for S5 ETL frames with perfect recall. We then consider how to extend and consolidate the notion of perfect recall in sub-S5 settings, where the various notions discussed are no longer equivalent

Memory in autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis of experimental studies

To address inconsistencies in the literature on memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), we report the first ever meta-analysis of short-term (STM) and episodic long-term (LTM) memory in ASD, evaluating the effects of type of material, type of retrieval and the role of inter-item relations. Analysis of 64 studies comparing individuals with ASD and typical development (TD) showed greater difficulties in ASD compared to TD individuals in STM (Hedges’ g=-0.53 [95%CI -0.90; -0.16], p=.005, I²=96%) compared to LTM (g=-0.30 [95%CI -0.42; -0.17], p<.00001, I²=24%), a small difficulty in verbal LTM (g=-0.21, p=.01), contrasting with a medium difficulty for visual LTM (g= -0.41, p=.0002) in ASD compared to TD individuals. We also found a general diminution in free recall compared to cued recall and recognition (LTM, free recall: g=-0.38, p<.00001, cued recall: g=-0.08, p=.58, recognition: g=-0.15, p=.16; STM, free recall: g=-0.59, p=.004, recognition: g=-0.33, p=.07). We discuss these results in terms of their relation to semantic memory. The limited diminution in verbal LTM and preserved overall recognition and cued recall (supported retrieval) may result from a greater overlap of these tasks with semantic long-term representations which are overall preserved in ASD. By contrast, difficulties in STM or free recall may result from less overlap with the semantic system or may involve additional cognitive operations and executive demands. These findings highlight the need to support STM functioning in ASD and acknowledge the potential benefit of using verbal materials at encoding and broader forms of memory support at retrieval to enhance performance

Product recalls: The effects of industry, recall strategy and hazard, on shareholder wealth

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the effects of product recalls on shareholder wealth of manufacturing firms in different supply chains. Previous research examining this phenomenon is largely uni-sectorial and/or does not consider the interplay of hazard, recall strategy and sector. By utilizing the event study method, this study examines investors\u27 reactions to key product recall characteristics: industry, recall strategy and hazard level, on a cross-industry sample of 296 product recall announcements. The results show a significant negative reaction of share values to product recalls and significant differences between industry type and hazard levels. More regulated and stringent supply chains, such as the automotive and pharmaceutical, showed statistically significant losses in share price. The results show that industry sector and level of hazard associated with defective products are significant factors impacting the shareholder wealth of manufacturing firms. Contrary to some studies, the impact of recall strategy was not confirmed, although proactive recall strategies led, in some cases, to an increase in share price. Further research would benefit from more detailed investigation of recall strategies on the value of companies in specific sectors, particularly ones which are susceptible to frequent and costly product recalls