Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

Categorically distinct subsets allow flexible memory selection in hybrid search.
In many everyday situations, we search our visual surroundings for any one of many memorized items held in memory, a process termed hybrid search. In some cases, only a portion of the memorized mental list is relevant within a specific visual context, thus, restricting memory search to the relevant subset would be desirable. Previous research had shown that participants largely fail to “partition” memory into several distinct subsets, on a trial-by-trial basis. However, given the known role of semantic content in long-term memory organization, we hypothesized that semantically defined subset categories might serve as a more powerful means for flexible memory selection in dynamic hybrid search situations. Experiment 1 revealed that, indeed, semantic characteristics (i.e., object category), but not perceptual features (e.g., arbitrary color), can provide a firm basis for flexible memory partitioning. Experiments 2 and 3 further showed that such memory partitioning is costless and is independent of the nature of the surrounding visual distractors (i.e., a categorically homogeneous or heterogeneous display). These findings demonstrate that confining one’s memory search to a currently relevant subset of items is highly effective when the different memory subsets are defined by clear semantic categories. The results underscore the importance of conceptual information in the organization of activated long-term memory and in forming the basis for a flexible trial-by-trial memory selection. Our findings further highlight the relationship between visual search and memory search, and they may shed light on the processes contributing to a successful construction of bounded episodes in long-term memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
When confidence reveals more than recognition performance does: The case of context load.
Context in which events are embedded is often hypothesized to serve as an independent cue for retrieval. This means that any effects of context need to obey two basic principles of cue-dependent memory: Memory retrieval should be augmented when, first, encoding context is reinstated and, second, this context uniquely specifies individual items stored in memory. Both of these regularities are well supported for recall tests, but they remain contentious in recognition tests. Here, in three experiments, we assess whether unique and nonunique contexts affect memory processes when reinstated during recognition. However, rather than focusing on measures of recognition performance, we looked at confidence judgments collected during recognition that should be particularly sensitive to recollective effects resulting from context cuing. Experiments 1 and 2, using old/new and forced-choice recognition tests, respectively, documented positive effects of context reinstatement on confidence in correct recognition identifications, but only for contexts uniquely associated with individual items. These effects emerged even when there were no reliable context effects in recognition performance measures. Experiment 3 showed the same effect of context reinstatement, moderated by context load, when spontaneous recognition of a previous study episode occurred during restudy. These results demonstrate the role of context as an independent retrieval cue both in deliberate and spontaneous recognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Direction-specific reading experience shapes perceptual span.
Perceptual span in reading, the spatial extent for effective information extraction during a single fixation, provides a critical foundation to all studies for sentence reading. However, it is not understood fully how the perceptual span is influenced by direction-specific reading experience. Traditional Chinese sentences can be written horizontally from left to right or vertically downward, offering the best opportunity to explore readers’ perceptual span in different text directions, free of possible confounding with language proficiency and cross-participant differences. Using a within-item and within-subject design, eye movements of traditional Chinese readers were recorded during their reading of horizontally and vertically presented sentences. Additionally, regardless of text direction, a gaze-contingent moving-window technique was adopted to restrict visible texts within a virtual window that moved in synchrony with the reader’s eye gaze, while characters outside the window were masked. Among several critical results, most importantly, asymptotic reading performance was observed in a smaller window condition for vertical reading than for horizontal reading, suggesting an overall smaller perceptual span in the former case. In addition, the size of the vertical perceptual span increased as a function of the readers’ familiarity with vertical text. We conclude that factors beyond orthographic complexity and readers’ language proficiency can influence the way in which humans read. Readers’ direction-specific perceptual experiences can influence their perceptual span. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Saccadic targeting in the Landolt-C task: Implications for Chinese reading.
Participants in an eye-movement experiment performed a modified version of the Landolt-C paradigm (Williams & Pollatsek, 2007) to determine if there are preferred viewing locations when they searched for target squares embedded in linear arrays of spatially contiguous clusters of squares (i.e., sequences of one to four squares having missing segments of variable size and orientation). The results of this experiment indicate that, although the peaks of the single- and first-of-multiple-fixation landing-site distributions were respectively located near the centers and beginnings of the clusters, thereby replicating previous patterns that have been interpreted as evidence for the default saccadic-targeting hypothesis, the same dissociation was evident on nonclusters (i.e., arbitrarily defined regions of analysis). Furthermore, properties of the clusters (e.g., character number and gap size) influenced fixation durations and forward saccade length, suggesting that ongoing stimulus processing affects decisions about when and where (i.e., how far) to move the eyes. Finally, results of simulations using simple oculomotor-based, default-targeting, and dynamic-adjustment models indicated that the latter performed better than the other two, suggesting that the dynamic-adjustment strategy likely reflects the basic perceptual and motor constraints shared by a variety of visual tasks, rather than being specific to Chinese reading. The theoretical implications of these results for existing and future accounts of eye-movement control are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Changing-state irrelevant speech disrupts visual–verbal but not visual–spatial serial recall.
In an influential article, Jones et al. (1995) provide evidence that auditory distraction by changing relative to repetitive auditory distracters (the changing-state effect) did not differ between a visual–verbal and visual–spatial serial recall task, providing evidence for an amodal mechanism for the representation of serial order in short-term memory that transcends modalities. This finding has been highly influential for theories of short-term memory and auditory distraction. However, evidence vis-à-vis the robustness of this result is sorely lacking. Here, two high-powered replications of Jones et al.’s (1995) crucial Experiment 4 were undertaken. In the first partial replication (n = 64), a fully within-participants design was adopted, wherein participants undertook both the visual–verbal and visual–spatial serial recall tasks under different irrelevant sound conditions, without a retention period. The second near-identical replication (n = 128), incorporated a retention period and implemented the task-modality manipulation as a between-participants factor, as per the original Jones et al. (1995; Experiment 4) study. In both experiments, the changing-state effect was observed for visual–verbal serial recall but not for visual–spatial serial recall. The results are consistent with modular and interference-based accounts of distraction and challenge some aspects of functional equivalence accounts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
A grain of truth in the grain size effect: Retrieval practice is more effective when interspersed during learning.
Retrieval practice is a powerful method for consolidating long-term learning. When learning takes place over an extended period, how should tests be scheduled to obtain the maximal benefit? In an end-test schedule, all material is studied prior to a large practice test on all studied material, whereas in an interim test schedule, learning is divided into multiple study/test cycles in which each test is smaller and only assesses material from the preceding study block. Past investigations have generally found a difference between these schedules during practice but not during a final assessment, although they may have been underpowered. Five experiments confirmed that final assessment performance was better in students taught using interim than end tests in list (Experiments 1, 2, and 5) and paired associate (Experiments 3 and 4) learning, with a meta-analysis of all available studies (k = 19) yielding a small- to medium-sized effect, g = 0.25, 95% confidence interval [0.09, 0.42]. Experiment 5 finds that the higher level of practice retrieval success in interim tests contributes to the grain size effect, but the effect is eliminated if these tests are too easy. Additional analyses also suggest that the forward testing effect, in which tests promote subsequent learning, may be a major cause of the grain size effect. The practical and theoretical implications of these demonstrations of robust grain size effects are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The effect of face race on metamemory: Examining its robustness and underlying mechanisms.
Perceivers typically exhibit better recognition memory for same-race faces than for cross-race faces, a phenomenon known as the cross-race effect (CRE). Despite its ubiquity, it is yet unclear whether people are metacognitively aware of the CRE. This research thoroughly investigates perceivers’ metacognitive awareness of the CRE across five experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that both prospective (judgments of learning) and retrospective (confidence) metamemory judgments are sensitive to variations in the racial category and prototypicality of faces. Experiment 3 showed that participants’ item-level prospective judgments are informed by beliefs about the impact of face race on memory performance. Experiment 4 revealed that global predictions are influenced by face race in the absence of direct stimulus experience, emphasizing the role of preexisting beliefs. Experiment 5 extended these findings by showing large crossover interactions between face race and participant race in both global predictions and item-level prospective judgments, indicating that both White and Black participants have higher metamemory estimates for ingroup faces. This experiment further showed that preexisting beliefs intensify the impact of face race on metamemory judgments yet do not fully account for it. Collectively, these experiments provide robust evidence of good metamemory accuracy for faces varying in racial categories and prototypicality among White participants and demonstrate that beliefs underlie the effect of face race on metamemory judgments among both White and Black participants, though this may not be the only mechanism involved. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Bilingual parafoveal processing: Children and adults preprocess orthographic information of the upcoming word during sentence reading in their first and second language.
Readers of different ages and across different languages routinely process information of upcoming words in a sentence, before their eyes move to fixate them directly (parafoveal processing). However, there is inconsistent evidence of similar parafoveal processing in a reader’s second language (L2). In this eye movement study, the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm (Rayner, 1975a) was used to test whether parafoveal processing of orthographic information is an integral part of both beginning and proficient L2 reading. The eye movements of beginning L2-learners (n = 53, aged 11–14 years) and highly proficient L2-users (n = 56, aged 19–65 years) were recorded while they read sentences in their first language (L1) German and L2 English. Sentences each contained a cognate target word (e.g., English: tunnel, German: Tunnel). The parafoveal preview of the targets either (a) preserved the spelling and meaning of the target (identity condition), (b) preserved letter identities but transposed the position of two adjacent letters (transposed-letter [TL] condition, e.g., tunenl/Tunenl), or substituted the identity of two adjacent letters (substituted-letter condition, e.g., tunocl/Tunocl). TL previews elicited longer early first-pass reading times than identity previews in both L1 and L2 reading in children and adults, suggesting that letter position was processed parafoveally. Substituted-letter previews resulted in longer reading times than TL previews in children and adults in L1 and L2, suggesting that letter identity information was processed independently of position information. These results suggest that letter position and identity information are extracted from the parafovea during L1 and L2 reading, facilitating word recognition in children and adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Consonant beginnings and vowel endings lead to higher liking judgments.
Across languages, syllables more likely begin with consonants (vs. vowels) and end with vowels (vs. consonants), so that words that follow (vs. do not follow) this pattern are more familiar. In six experiments (total N = 638), we investigated the influence of beginning and ending letters (vowels vs. consonants) of pseudowords on preferences. Pseudowords that begin with consonants (vs. vowels) were preferred; independently, pseudowords that end with vowels (vs. consonants) were also preferred. Both of these consonant–vowel-preference effects generalized across stimulus sets and across speakers of German and English (Experiments 1a–1c). Additionally, consistent with familiarity as the underlying mechanism, pseudowords with consonant (vs. vowel) beginnings and vowel (vs. consonant) endings were more frequently judged to be real words (Experiment 2). The word-ending effect—but surprisingly, not the word-beginning effect—generalized to auditory stimulus presentation (Experiments 3a–3b). Thus, we find that preferences for vowel (vs. consonant) at word endings are more robust than preferences for consonant (vs. vowel) at word beginnings. By showing that consonant–vowel structure systematically influences preferences, we demonstrate two new associations between word form and affective meaning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition - Vol 50, Iss 11