Ефект емоційної насиченості аромату відносно впевненості щодо його правильної ідентифікації (Odor emotionally effects the confidence in odor naming)

Попередні дослідження показали, що учасники експериментального дослідження є надміру впевненими у правильності визначення (ідентифікації) запропонованого їм запаху. Це означає, що їх впевненість виражається як суб'єктивна ймовірність, яка в середньому вища, ніж фактична частка правильних визначень запаху. Даний експеримент, що перевіряв гіпотезу про те, чим інтенсивніший запах, тим більше впевненими є досліджувані щодо його ідентифікації. Результати показали, що впевненість у ідентифікації запахів може, дійсно, бути залежною від властивостей ароматів. Це дозволяє припустити, що емоційні змінні повинні бути прийняті до уваги при вивченні метапам’яті. (Previous research has demonstrated that participants are overconfident in the veracity of their odor identifications. This means that their confidence expressed as subjective probabilities is, on average, higher than the actual proportion of correct odor identifications. The current experiment tested the hypothesis that the more arousing an odor is, the more participants are overconfident in their identification of it. The results indicated that part of the overconfidence in odor identification can, indeed, be due to the arousing properties of the odors. This suggests that emotional variables should be taken into account when researching metamemory.

Використання методу багатофакторного шкалювання у дослідженні основного принципу суджень про легкість вивчення. (Using a multidimensional scaling approach to investigate the underlying basis of ease of learning judgments.)

Перед вивченням матеріалу важливо спершу оцінити його складність, висловити так звані судження про легкість вивчення (ЛВ). Процедура багатофакторного шкалювання (БФШ) була використана з метою дослідження основного принципу ЛВ суджень для 24 іменників, що, на думку автора, є новизною дослідження. До того ж, судження про оцінку вивченого (СОВ) супроводжувалися тестом довільного згадування. Аналіз БФШ вказує на те, що ЛВ судження про іменники базуються на кількох показниках (факторах), а саме довжина слова, частота, та конкретність. Більш того, значення конкретності іменників, згідно з оцінкою незалежної групи, співвідносилися як з СОВ так і показником конкретності отриманого після аналізу БФШ. Це вказує на те, що ЛВ та СОВ декою мірою базуються на однакових показниках. Результати подані зважаючи на наявну літературу. (Before studying a material it may be important to first assess the difficulty of it, so called Ease of Learning (EOL) judgments. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure was used to investigate the underlying basis of EOL judgments for 24 nouns, which to the authors’ knowledge has not been done before. In addition, Judgments of Learning (JOL) followed by a free recall test was performed. The MDS analysis indicate that EOL judgments for the nouns are based on multiple cues (dimensions), namely word length, frequency, and concreteness. Moreover, the concreteness values of the nouns, as judged by an independent group, were correlated with both the JOLs and the concreteness dimension from the MDS analysis. This indicates that EOLs and JOLs to some extent are based on the same cues. The results are discussed in relation to the available literature.

Predicting Accuracy in Eyewitness Testimonies With Memory Retrieval Effort and Confidence

Evaluating eyewitness testimonies has proven a difficult task. Recent research, however, suggests that incorrect memories are more effortful to retrieve than correct memories, and confidence in a memory is based on retrieval effort. We aimed to replicate and extend these findings, adding retrieval latency as a predictor of memory accuracy. Participants watched a film sequence with a staged crime and were interviewed about its content. We then analyzed retrieval effort cues in witness responses. Results showed that incorrect memories included more “effort cues” than correct memories. While correct responses were produced faster than incorrect responses, delays in responses proved a better predictor of accuracy than response latency. Furthermore, participants were more confident in correct than incorrect responses, and the effort cues partially mediated this confidence-accuracy relation. In sum, the results support previous findings of a relationship between memory accuracy and objectively verifiable cues to retrieval effort

The Direct Testing Effect Is Pervasive in Action Memory: Analyses of Recall Accuracy and Recall Speed

Successful retrieval from memory is a desirably difficult learning event that reduces the recall decrement of studied materials over longer delays more than restudying does. The present study was the first to test this direct testing effect for performed and read action events (e.g., “light a candle”) in terms of both recall accuracy and recall speed. To this end, subjects initially encoded action phrases by either enacting them or reading them aloud (i.e., encoding type). After this initial study phase, they received two practice phases, in which the same number of action phrases were restudied or retrieval-practiced (Exp. 1–3), or not further processed (Exp. 3; i.e., practice type). This learning session was ensued by a final cued-recall test both after a short delay (2 min) and after a long delay (1 week: Exp. 1 and 2; 2 weeks: Exp. 3). To test the generality of the results, subjects retrieval practiced with either noun-cued recall of verbs (Exp. 1 and 3) or verb-cued recall of nouns (Exp. 2) during the intermediate and final tests (i.e., test type). We demonstrated direct benefits of testing on both recall accuracy and recall speed. Repeated retrieval practice, relative to repeated restudy and study-only practice, reduced the recall decrement over the long delay, and enhanced phrases’ recall speed already after 2 min, and this independently of type of encoding and recall test. However, a benefit of testing on long-term retention only emerged (Exp. 3), when prolonging the recall delay from 1 to 2 weeks, and using different sets of phrases for the immediate and delayed final tests. Thus, the direct testing benefit appears to be highly generalizable even with more complex, action-oriented stimulus materials, and encoding manipulations. We discuss these results in terms of the distribution-based bifurcation model

Judging the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies using retrieval effort cues

Recent research has shown that incorrect statements in eyewitness testimonies contain more cues to effortful memory retrieval than correct statements. In two experiments, we attempted to improve judgments of testimony accuracy by informing participants about these effort cues. Participants read eyewitness testimony transcripts and judged statement accuracy. Performance was above chance in both experiments, but there was only a significant effect of the effort-cue instruction in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, we also compared judgment accuracy between police detectives, police students and laypersons, and found no significant difference, in contrast to previous studies. Moreover, the current study corroborates previous findings that (a) judging testimony accuracy is a difficult task and (b) people spontaneously rely on effort cues to some extent when judging accuracy. However, a complete reliance on effort cues showed substantially better performance than relying on one's own judgments skills at best, and offered equal performance at worst.This research was supported by a grant from the Elisabeth and Herman Rhodin Memorial Foundation and from The Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation.</p

Correction: Eyewitness accuracy and retrieval effort: Effects of time and repetition.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273455.]

Eyewitness accuracy and retrieval effort : Effects of time and repetition

An important task for the law enforcement is to assess the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. Recent research show that indicators of effortful memory retrieval, such as pausing and hedging (e.g. “I think”, “maybe”), are more common in incorrect recall. However, a limitation in these studies is that participants are interviewed shortly after witnessing an event, as opposed to after greater retention intervals. We set out to mitigate this shortcoming by investigating the retrieval effort-accuracy relationship over time. In this study, participants watched a staged crime and were interviewed directly afterwards, and two weeks later. Half the participants also carried out a repetition task during the two-week retention interval. Results showed that the retrieval-effort cues Delays and Hedges predicted accuracy at both sessions, including after repetition. We also measured confidence, and found that confidence also predicted accuracy over time, although repetition led to increased confidence for incorrect memories. Moreover, retrieval-effort cues partially mediated between accuracy and confidence.

Assessing Boundary Conditions of the Testing Effect: On the Relative Efficacy of Covert vs. Overt Retrieval

Repeated testing during learning often improves later memory, which is often referred to as the testing effect. To clarify its boundary conditions, we examined whether the testing effect was selectively affected by covert (retrieved but not articulated) or overt (retrieved and articulated) response format. In Experiments 1 and 2, we compared immediate (5 min) and delayed (1 week) cued recall for paired associates following study-only, covert, and overt conditions, including two types of overt articulation (typing and writing). A clear testing effect was observed in both experiments, but with no selective effects of response format. In Experiments 3 and 4, we compared covert and overt retrieval under blocked and random list orders. The effect sizes were small in both experiments, but there was a significant effect of response format, with overt retrieval showing better final recall performance than covert retrieval. There were no significant effects of blocked vs. random list orders with respect to the testing effect produced. Taken together, these findings suggest that, under specific circumstances, overt retrieval may lead to a greater testing effect than that of covert retrieval, but because of small effect sizes, it appears that the testing effect is mainly the result of retrieval processes and that articulation has fairly little to add to its magnitude in a paired-associates learning paradigm