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We introduce and report early stage testing of a novel, multicomponent intervention that can be used by healthcare professionals (HCPs) to address false or misleading antivaccination arguments while maintaining empathy for and understanding of people's motivations to believe misinformation: the "Empathetic Refutational Interview" (ERI). Method:We conducted four experiments in 2022 with participants whowere predominantly negative or on the fence about vaccination (total n= 2,545) to test four steps for tailoring an HCP's response to a vaccine-hesitant individual: (a) elicit their concerns, (b) affirm their values and beliefs to the extent possible, (c) refute the misinformed beliefs in their reasoning in a way that is tailored to their psychological motivations, and (d) provide factual information about vaccines. Each of the stepswas tested against active control conditions, with participants randomized to conditions. Results: Overall, compared to controls, we found that observing steps of the ERI produced small effects on increasing vaccine acceptance and lowering support for antivaccination arguments. Critically, an HCP who affirmed participants' concerns generated significantly more support for their refutations and subsequent information, with large effects compared to controls. In addition, participants found tailored refutations (compared to control responses) more compelling, and displayed more trust and openness toward the HCP giving them. Conclusions: The ERI can potentially be leveraged and tested further as a tailored communication tool for HCPs to refute antivaccination misconceptions while maintaining trust and rapport with patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corrected misinformation can continue to influence inferential reasoning. It has been suggested that such continued influence is partially driven by misinformation familiarity, and that corrections should therefore avoid repeating misinformation to avoid inadvertent strengthening of misconceptions. However, evidence for such familiarity backfire effects is scarce. We tested whether familiarity backfire may occur if corrections are processed under cognitive load. Although misinformation repetition may boost familiarity, load may impede integration of the correction, reducing its effectiveness and therefore allowing a backfire effect to emerge. Participants listened to corrections that repeated misinformation while in a driving simulator. Misinformation familiarity was manipulated through the number of corrections. Load was manipulated through a math task administered selectively during correction encoding. Multiple corrections were more effective than a single correction; cognitive load reduced correction effectiveness, with a single correction entirely ineffective under load. This provides further evidence against familiarity backfire effects and has implications for real-world debunking. General Audience Summary: Misinformation can continue to influence an individual's reasoning even after a correction. This is known as the continued influence effect (CIE). It has previously been suggested that this effect occurs (at least partially) due to the familiarity of the misinformation. This has led to recommendations to avoid repeating the misinformation within a correction, as this may increase misinformation familiarity and thus, ironically, false beliefs. However, it has proven difficult to find strong evidence for such familiarity backfire effects. One situation that may produce familiarity-driven backfire is if misinformation is repeated within a correction while participants are distracted—misinformation repetition may automatically boost its familiarity, while the distraction may impede proper processing and integration of the correction. In this study, we investigated how misinformation repetition during distraction affected the CIE. The present study extends the generalizability of traditional misinformation research by asking participants to listen to misinformation and corrections while in a driving simulator. Misinformation familiarity was manipulated through the number of corrections provided that contained the misinformation. Distraction was applied not only through the background task of driving in the simulator, but also manipulated through a secondary math task, which was administered selectively during the correction-encoding phase, and which required manual responses on a cockpit-mounted tablet. As hypothesized, cognitive load reduced the effectiveness of corrections. Furthermore, we found no evidence of familiarity backfire effects, with multiple corrections being more effective in reducing misinformation reliance than a single correction. When participants were distracted, a single correction was entirely ineffective, and multiple corrections were required to achieve a reduction in misinformation reliance. This provides further evidence against familiarity backfire effects under conditions maximally favorable to their emergence and implies that practitioners can debunk misinformation without fear of inducing ironic backfire effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cognitive model of social influence (Social Sampling Theory [SST]) is developed and applied to several social network phenomena including polarization and contagion effects. Social norms and individuals' private attitudes are represented as distributions rather than the single points used in most models. SST is explored using agent-based modeling to link individual-level and network-level effects. People are assumed to observe the behavior of their social network neighbors and thereby infer the social distribution of particular attitudes and behaviors. It is assumed that (a) people dislike behaving in ways that are extreme within their neighborhood social norm (social extremeness aversion assumption), and hence tend to conform and (b) people prefer to behave consistently with their own underlying attitudes (authenticity preference assumption) hence minimizing dissonance. Expressed attitudes and behavior reflect a utility-maximizing compromise between these opposing principles. SST is applied to a number of social phenomena including (a) homophily and the development of segregated neighborhoods, (b) polarization, (c) effects of norm homogeneity on social conformity, (d) pluralistic ignorance and false consensus effects, (e) backfire effects, (f) interactions between world view and social norm effects, and (g) the opposing effects on subjective well-being of authentic behavior and high levels of social comparison. More generally, it is argued that explanations of social comparison require the variance, not just the central tendency, of both attitudes and beliefs about social norms to be accommodated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political misinformation poses a major threat to democracies worldwide, often inciting intense disputes between opposing political groups. Despite its central role for informed electorates and political decision making, little is known about how aware people are of whether they are right or wrong when distinguishing accurate political information from falsehood. Here, we investigate people's metacognitive insight into their own ability to detect political misinformation. We use data from a unique longitudinal study spanning 12 waves over 6 months that surveyed a representative U.S. sample (N = 1,191) on the most widely circulating political (mis)information online. Harnessing signal detection theory methods to model metacognition, we found that people from both the political left and the political right were aware of how well they distinguished accurate political information from falsehood across all news. However, this metacognitive insight was considerably lower for Republicans and conservatives—than for Democrats and liberals—when the information in question challenged their ideological commitments. That is, given their level of knowledge, Republicans' and conservatives' confidence was less likely to reflect the correctness of their truth judgments for true and false political statements that were at odds with their political views. These results reveal the intricate and systematic ways in which political preferences are linked to the accuracy with which people assess their own truth discernment. More broadly, by identifying a specific political asymmetry—for discordant relative to concordant news—our findings highlight the role of metacognition in perpetuating and exacerbating ideological divides. Public Significance Statement: This preregistered study suggests that people from both the political left and the political right are aware of how well they distinguish accurate political information from falsehood across all news. However, this metacognitive insight was considerably lower for Republicans and conservatives—than for Democrats and liberals—when they faced statements that challenged their ideological commitments. People's awareness of the accuracy and fallibility of their own knowledge thus partly differs across ideological divides, which may fuel broader societal trends such as political polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a framework for simple measurement models for working memory, and apply it to complex-span and memory-updating tasks. Memory Measurement Models (M3) use the frequency distribution across response categories to measure continuous memory strength along 2 dimensions: Memory for individual elements, potentially relying on persistent activation of unified representations, and memory for relations, relying on temporary bindings. Experiment 1 provides evidence for the validity of the parameters measuring these two dimensions of strength. The effects of experimental manipulations on these 2 dimensions can be captured by additional model parameters that reflect hypothetical processes affecting memory. Across five further experiments we illustrate how M3 can be used to measure 3 such processes: The continued strengthening of memory representations during the retention interval (extended encoding), the dampening of encoding of irrelevant information (filtering), and the removal of irrelevant information from memory. In one experiment we compare young and old adults on complex-span tasks and working memory updating. In both paradigms, old adults showed impaired memory for relations but no impairment in memory for individual elements. There was partial evidence for age differences in extended encoding and removal; there were no age differences in filtering. We suggest that M3 offer a computationally efficient approach to identifying memory processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the refutation of equivocal claims using counterarguments. Common sense suggests that more counterarguments should be more effective at inducing belief change. However, some researchers have argued that in persuasive reasoning, using too many arguments might lead to counterproductive skepticism and reactance. Thus, there have been calls to actively curtail the number of counterarguments used in refutations to avoid risking an "overkill backfire effect"—an ironic strengthening of beliefs from too many counterarguments. In three experiments, we tested whether calls to limit the number of counterarguments are justified. We found that a larger number of counterarguments (between four and six) led to as much or more belief reduction compared to a smaller number of (two) counterarguments. This was not merely an effect arising from a simple numerosity heuristic, as counterarguments had to be relevant to affect beliefs: irrelevant counterarguments failed to reduce beliefs even though perceived as moderately persuasive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terms “post-truth” and “fake news” have become increasingly prevalent in public discourse over the last year. This article explores the growing abundance of misinformation, how it influences people, and how to counter it. We examine the ways in which misinformation can have an adverse impact on society. We summarize how people respond to corrections of misinformation, and what kinds of corrections are most effective. We argue that to be effective, scientific research into misinformation must be considered within a larger political, technological, and societal context. The post-truth world emerged as a result of societal mega-trends such as a decline in social capital, growing economic inequality, increased polarization, declining trust in science, and an increasingly fractionated media landscape. We suggest that responses to this malaise must involve technological solutions incorporating psychological principles, an interdisciplinary approach that we describe as “technocognition.” We outline a number of recommendations to counter misinformation in a post-truth world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We welcome the nine constructive and insightful commentaries on our target article. The commentaries proposed a number of creative, evidence-based applications of the principles we proposed. Here we identify common themes among the commentaries, including one relating to the political intentionality underlying much disinformation that we only partially addressed and that thus had remained shrouded in mist. We synthesize the suggestions from the commentary into a proposal that may help overcome the post-truth malaise, provided a final obstacle can be overcome. This obstacle is the gorilla in the room: Policy making in the United States is largely independent of the public's wishes but serves the interests of economic elites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People frequently rely on information even after it has been retracted, a phenomenon known as the continued-influence effect of misinformation. One factor proposed to explain the ineffectiveness of retractions is that repeating misinformation during a correction may inadvertently strengthen the misinformation by making it more familiar. Practitioners are therefore often encouraged to design corrections that avoid misinformation repetition. The current study tested this recommendation, investigating whether retractions become more or less effective when they include reminders or repetitions of the initial misinformation. Participants read fictional reports, some of which contained retractions of previous information, and inferential reasoning was measured via questionnaire. Retractions varied in the extent to which they served as misinformation reminders. Retractions that explicitly repeated the misinformation were more effective in reducing misinformation effects than retractions that avoided repetition, presumably because of enhanced salience. Recommendations for effective myth debunking may thus need to be revised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the explanatory roles that have been ascribed to various forms of rehearsal or refreshing in short-term memory (STM) and working memory paradigms, usually in conjunction with the assumption that memories decay over time if they are not rehearsed. Notwithstanding the popularity of the rehearsal notion, there have been few detailed examinations of its underlying mechanisms. We explicitly implemented rehearsal in a decay model and explored its role by simulation in several benchmark paradigms ranging from immediate serial recall to complex span and delayed recall. The results show that articulatory forms of rehearsal often fail to counteract temporal decay. Rapid attentional refreshing performs considerably better, but so far there is scant empirical evidence that people engage in refreshing during STM tasks. Combining articulatory rehearsal and refreshing as 2 independent maintenance processes running in parallel leads to worse performance than refreshing alone. We conclude that theoretical reliance on articulatory rehearsal as a causative agent in memory may be unwise and that explanatory appeals to rehearsal are insufficient unless buttressed by quantitative modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissemination and control of information are indispensable ingredients of violent conflict, with all parties involved in a conflict or at war seeking to frame the discussion on their own terms. Those attempts at information control often involve the dissemination of misinformation or disinformation (i.e., information that is incorrect by accident or intent, respectively). We review the way in which misinformation can facilitate violent conflicts and, conversely, how the successful refutation of misinformation can contribute to peace. We illustrate the relevant cognitive principles by examining two case studies. The first, a retrospective case, involves the Iraq War of 2003 and the "War on Terror." The second, a prospective case, points to likely future sources of conflict arising from climate change and its likely consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article tests the assumption that forgetting in working memory for verbal materials is caused by time-based decay, using the complex-span paradigm. Participants encoded 6 letters for serial recall; each letter was preceded and followed by a processing period comprising 4 trials of difficult visual search. Processing duration, during which memory could decay, was manipulated via search set size. This manipulation increased retention interval by up to 100% without having any effect on recall accuracy. This result held with and without articulatory suppression. Two experiments using a dual-task paradigm showed that the visual search process required central attention. Thus, even when memory maintenance by central attention and by articulatory rehearsal was prevented, a large delay had no effect on memory performance, contrary to the decay notion. Most previous experiments that manipulated the retention interval and the opportunity for maintenance processes in complex span have confounded these variables with time pressure during processing periods. Three further experiments identified time pressure as the variable that affected recall. We conclude that time-based decay does not contribute to the capacity limit of verbal working memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of attention is central to theorizing in learning as well as in working memory. However, research to date has yet to establish how attention as construed in one domain maps onto the other. We investigate two manifestations of attention in category- and cue-learning to examine whether they might provide common ground between learning and working memory. Experiment 1 examined blocking and highlighting effects in an associative learning paradigm, which are widely thought to be attentionally mediated. No relationship between attentional performance indicators and working memory capacity (WMC) was observed, despite the fact that WMC was strongly associated with overall learning performance. Experiment 2 used a knowledge restructuring paradigm, which is known to require recoordination of partial category knowledge using representational attention. We found that the extent to which people successfully recoordinated their knowledge was related to WMC. The results illustrate a link between WMC and representational--but not dimensional--attention in category learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory is crucial for many higher level cognitive functions, ranging from mental arithmetic to reasoning and problem solving. Likewise, the ability to learn and categorize novel concepts forms an indispensable part of human cognition. However, very little is known about the relationship between working memory and categorization. This article reports 2 studies that related people's working memory capacity (WMC) to their learning performance on multiple rule-based and information-integration perceptual categorization tasks. In both studies, structural equation model-ing revealed a strong relationship between WMC and category learning irrespective of the require-ment to integrate information across multiple perceptual dimensions. WMC was also uniformly related to people's ability to focus on the most task-appropriate strategy, regardless of whether or not that strategy involved information integration. Contrary to the predictions of the multiple systems view of categorization, working memory thus appears to underpin performance in both major classes of perceptual category-learning tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section brings together behavioral, computational, mathematical, and neuroimaging ap-proaches to understand the processes underlying category learning. Over the past decade, there has been growing convergence in research on categorization, with computational-mathematical models influenc-ing the interpretation of brain imaging and neuropsychological data, and with cognitive neuroscience findings influencing the development and refinement of models. Classic debates between single-system and multiple-memory-system theories have become more nuanced and focused. Multiple brain areas and cognitive processes contribute to categorization, but theories differ markedly in whether and when those neurocognitive components are recruited for different aspects of categorization. The articles in this special section approach this issue from several diverse angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory is crucial for many higher-level cognitive functions, ranging from mental arithmetic to reasoning and problem solving. Likewise, the ability to learn and categorize novel concepts forms an indispensable part of human cognition. However, very little is known about the relationship between working memory and categorization, and modeling in category learning has thus far been largely uninformed by knowledge about people's memory processes. This article reports a large study (N = 113) that related people's working memory capacity (WMC) to their category-learning performance using the 6 problem types of Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961). Structural equation modeling revealed a strong relationship between WMC and category learning, with a single latent variable accommodating performance on all 6 problems. A model of categorization (the Attention Learning COVEring map, ALCOVE; Kruschke, 1992) was fit to the individual data and a single latent variable was sufficient to capture the variation among associative learning parameters across all problems. The data and modeling suggest that working memory mediates category learning across a broad range of tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption in some current theories of probabilistic categorization is that people gradually attenuate their learning in response to unavoidable error. However, existing evidence for this error discounting is sparse and open to alternative interpretations. We report 2 probabilistic-categorization experiments in which we investigated error discounting by shifting feedback probabilities to new values after different amounts of training. In both experiments, responding gradually became less responsive to errors, and learning was slowed for some time after the feedback shift. Both results were indicative of error discounting. Quantitative modeling of the data revealed that adding a mechanism for error discounting significantly improved the fits of an exemplar-based and a rule-based associative learning model, as well as of a recency-based model of categorization. We conclude that error discounting is an important component of probabilistic learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of the duration and type of to-be-articulated distractors during encoding of a verbal list into short-term memory (STM). Distractors and to-be-remembered items alternated during list presentation, as in the complex-span task that underlies much of working-memory research. According to an interference model of STM, known as serial order in a box (SOB; Farrell & Lewandowsky, 2002), additional repeated articulations of the same word between list items should cause minimal further disruption of encoding into STM even though the retention interval for early list items is increased. SOB also predicts that the articulation of several different distractor items should lead to much enhanced disruption if the distractor interval is increased. Those predictions were qualitatively confirmed in 4 experiments that found that it is the type of distractors, not their total duration, that determines the success of encoding a list into STM. The results pose a challenge to temporal models of complex-span performance, such as the time-based resource sharing model (Barrouillet, Bernardin, & Camos, 2004). The results add to a growing body of evidence that memory for the short term is not exclusively governed by purely temporal processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory updating (WMU) has been identified as a cognitive function of prime importance for everyday tasks and has also been found to be a significant predictor of higher mental abilities. Yet, little is known about the constituent processes of WMU. We suggest that operations required in a typical WMU task can be decomposed into 3 major component processes: retrieval, transformation, and substitution. We report a large-scale experiment that instantiated all possible combinations of those 3 component processes. Results show that the 3 components make independent contributions to updating performance. We additionally present structural equation models that link WMU task performance and working memory capacity (WMC) measures. These feature the methodological advancement of estimating interindividual covariation and experimental effects on mean updating measures simultaneously. The modeling results imply that WMC is a strong predictor of WMU skills in general, although some component processes-in particular, substitution skills-were independent of WMC. Hence, the reported predictive power of WMU measures may rely largely on common WM functions also measured in typical WMC tasks, although substitution skills may make an independent contribution to predicting higher mental abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives forgetting in working memory? Recent evidence suggests that in a complex-span task in which an irrelevant processing task alternates with presentation of the memoranda, recall declines when the time taken to complete the processing task is extended while holding the time for rehearsal in between processing steps Constant (Portrat, Barrouillet, & Camos, 2008). This time-based forgetting was interpreted in support for the role of time-based decay in working memory. In this article, we argue the contrary position by (a) showing in an experiment that the processing task in Portrat et al's (2008) study gave rise to uncontrolled post-error processes that occupied the attentional bottleneck, thus preventing restorative rehearsal, and (b) showing that when those post-error processes are statistically controlled, there is no evidence for temporal decay in Porirat et al's study. We conclude that currently there exists no direct evidence for temporal decay in the complex-span paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that categories are often composed of correlated features, the evidence that people detect and use these correlations during intentional category learning has been overwhelmingly negative to date. Nonetheless, on other categorization tasks, such as feature prediction, people show evidence of correlational sensitivity. A conventional explanation holds that category learning tasks promote rule use, which discards the correlated-feature information, whereas other types of category learning tasks promote exemplar storage, which preserves correlated-feature information. Contrary to that common belief, the authors report 2 experiments that demonstrate that using probabilistic feedback in an intentional categorization task leads to sensitivity to correlations among nondiagnostic cues. Deterministic feedback eliminates correlational sensitivity by focusing attention on relevant cues. Computational modeling reveals that exemplar storage coupled with selective attention is necessary to explain this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In probabilistic categorization, also known as multiple cue probability learning (MCPL), people learn to predict a discrete outcome on the basis of imperfectly valid cues. In MCPL, normatively irrelevant cues are usually ignored, which stands in apparent conflict with recent research in deterministic categorization that has shown that people sometimes use irrelevant cues to gate access to partial knowledge encapsulated in independent partitions. The authors report 2 experiments that sought support for the existence of such knowledge partitioning in probabilistic categorization. The results indicate that, as in other areas of concept acquisition (such as function learning and deterministic categorization), a significant proportion of participants partitioned their knowledge on the basis of an irrelevant cue. The authors show by computational modeling that knowledge partitioning cannot be accommodated by 2 exemplar models (Generalized Context Model and Rapid Attention Shifts 'N Learning), whereas a rule-based model (General Recognition Theory) can capture partitioned performance. The authors conclude by pointing to the necessity of a mixture-of-experts approach to capture performance in MCPL and by identifying reduction of complexity as a possible explanation for partitioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three hypotheses of forgetting from immediate memory were tested: time-based decay, decreasing temporal distinctiveness, and interference. The hypotheses were represented by 3 models of serial recall: the primacy model, the SIMPLE (scale-independent memory, perception, and learning) model, and the SOB (serial order in a box) model, respectively. The models were fit to 2 experiments investigating the effect of filled delays between items at encoding or at recall. Short delays between items, filled with articulatory suppression, led to massive impairment of memory relative to a no-delay baseline. Extending the delays had little additional effect, suggesting that the passage of time alone does not cause forgetting. Adding a choice reaction task in the delay periods to block attention-based rehearsal did not change these results. The interference-based SOB fit the data best; the primacy model overpredicted the effect of lengthening delays, and SIMPLE was unable to explain the effect of delays at encoding. The authors conclude that purely temporal views of forgetting are inadequate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge restructuring occurs when people shift to a new strategy or representation during learning. Although knowledge restructuring can frequently be experimentally encouraged, there are instances in which people resist restructuring and continue to use an expedient but imperfect initial strategy. The authors report 3 category learning experiments that reconciled those conflicting outcomes by postulating that, for restructuring to occur, learners must be dissatisfied with their knowledge and a usable alternative must be available. In line with expectation, restructuring was elicited only when an alternative strategy was pointed out and when people's initial expedient strategy entailed performance error. Neither error nor information about the alternative strategy by itself was sufficient to induce restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge partitioning is a theoretical construct holding that knowledge is not always integrated and homogeneous but may be separated into independent parcels containing mutually contradictory information. Knowledge partitioning has been observed in research on expertise, categorization, and function learning. This article presents a theory of function learning (the population of linear experts model— POLE) that assumes people partition their knowledge whenever they are presented with a complex task. The authors show that POLE is a general model of function learning that accommodates both benchmark results and recent data on knowledge partitioning. POLE also makes the counterintuitive prediction that a person's distribution of responses to repeated test stimuli should be multimodal. The authors report 3 experiments that support this prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present 2 experiments that establish the presence of knowledge partitioning in perceptual categorization. Many participants learned to rely on a context cue, which did not predict category membership but identified partial boundaries, to gate independent partial categorization strategies. When participants partitioned their knowledge, a strategy used in 1 context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts. An exemplar model, attentional learning covering map, was shown to be unable to accommodate knowledge partitioning. Instead, a mixture-of-experts model, attention to rules and instances in a unified model (ATRIUM), could handle the results. The success of ATRIUM resulted from its assumption that people memorize not only exemplars but also the way in which they are to be classified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigated the role of the recognition criterion in the verbal overshadowing effect (VOE). In 3 experiments, people witnessed an event, verbally described a perpetrator, and then attempted identification. The authors found in Experiment 1, which included a "not present" response option and both perpetrator-present (PP) and perpetrator-absent (PA) lineups, an increased reluctance to identify a person from both lineup types after verbalization. Experiment 2 incorporated a forced-choice procedure, and the authors found no effect of verbalization on identification performance. Experiment 3 replicated the essential aspects of these results. Consequently, the VOE may reflect a change in recognition criterion rather than a changed processing style or alteration of the underlying memory trace. This conclusion was confirmed by computational modeling of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In short-term serial recall, similar sounding items are remembered less well than items that do not sound alike. This phonological similarity effect has been observed with lists composed only of similar items, and also with lists that mix together similar and dissimilar items. An additional consistent finding has been what the authors call dissimilar immunity, the finding that ordered recall of dissimilar items is the same whether these items occur in pure dissimilar or mixed lists. The authors present 3 experiments that disconfirm these previous findings by showing that dissimilar items on mixed lists are recalled better than their counterparts on pure lists if order errors are considered separately from intrusion errors (Experiment 1), or if intrusion errors are experimentally controlled (Experiments 2 and 3). The memory benefit for dissimilar items on mixed lists poses a challenge for current models of short-term serial recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the knowledge partitioning framework, people sometimes master complex tasks by creating multiple independent parcels of partial knowledge. Research has shown that knowledge parcels may contain mutually contradictory information, and that each parcel may be used without regard to knowledge that is demonstrably present in other parcels. This article reports 4 experiments that investigated knowledge partitioning in categorization. When component boundaries of a complex categorization were identified by a context cue, a significant proportion of participants learned partial and independent categorization strategies that were chosen on the basis of context. For those participants, a strategy used in one context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts, suggesting that knowledge partitioning in categorization can be complete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the concept of knowledge partitioning in function learning. Use of context to gate separate learning; Contextualized nature of knowledge; Relationship between stimulus and response magnitudes.

Investigates people's ability to restructure their knowledge when additional information about a categorization task is revealed. Complex relationship between predictors that support perfect performance; Role of associative blocking of potential alternative cues in the persistence of expedient knowledge; Strategies people use with and without the diagram.

Presents a computational model of human performance under automation based on connectionist principles. Explanation of the basic complacency effect; Intention of automation to reduce demands on operators in complex environments thereby enhancing overall system performance.

Reports on four experiments in which the effects of an intralist distractor task were compared for forward and backward recall. Serial-order version of theory of distributed associative memory (TODAM); Disruption of forward but not backward recall by distractor task; Retrieval-based account within the framework of temporal distinctiveness theory.

Focuses on a theory of categorization combining the most desirable properties of exemplar models with a connectionist architecture and learning rule. Significant property of the Attention Learning Covering Map (ALCOVE); Reexamination of ALCOVE's base-rate neglect predictions.

Identifies six problems brought up in Mewhort et al.'s critique of Lewandowsky and Murdock's model for serial recall based on the theory of distributed associative memory (TODAM). Exaggeration of fears arising from flaws in TODAM memory component; Implementation of deblurring mechanism to answer problems arising from response selection.

Presents an alternative technique for scope evaluation to model analysis in cognitive psychology which examines the ratio between the overall interdependence among model parameters and their sensitivity. Parameter independence and sensitivity as reliable predictor of scope; Additive model's low sensitivity parameters precision; Model scope estimation.

People frequently continue to use inaccurate information in their reasoning even after a credible retraction has been presented. This phenomenon is often referred to as the continued influence effect of misinformation. The repetition of the original misconception within a retraction could contribute to this phenomenon, as it could inadvertently make the "myth" more familiar--and familiar information is more likely to be accepted as true. From a dual-process perspective, familiarity-based acceptance of myths is most likely to occur in the absence of strategic memory processes. Thus, we examined factors known to affect whether strategic memory processes can be utilized: age, detail, and time. Participants rated their belief in various statements of unclear veracity, and facts were subsequently affirmed and myths were retracted. Participants then rerated their belief either immediately or after a delay. We compared groups of young and older participants, and we manipulated the amount of detail presented in the affirmative or corrective explanations, as well as the retention interval between encoding and a retrieval attempt. We found that (a) older adults over the age of 65 were worse at sustaining their postcorrection belief that myths were inaccurate, (b) a greater level of explanatory detail promoted more sustained belief change, and (c) fact affirmations promoted more sustained belief change in comparison with myth retractions over the course of 1 week (but not over 3 weeks), This supports the notion that familiarity is indeed a driver of continued influence effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We respond to the comments of Logie and Vandierendonck to our article proposing benchmark findings for evaluating theories and models of short-term and working memory. The response focuses on the two main points of criticism: (a) Logie and Vandierendonck argue that the scope of the set of benchmarks is too narrow. We explain why findings on how working memory is used in complex cognition, findings on executive functions, and findings from neuropsychological case studies are currently not included in the benchmarks, and why findings with visual and spatial materials are less prevalent among them, (b) The critics question the usefulness of the benchmarks and their ratings for advancing theory development. We explain why selecting and rating benchmarks is important and justifiable, and acknowledge that the present selection and rating decisions are in need of continuous updating. The usefulness of the benchmarks of all ratings is also enhanced by our concomitant online posting of data for many of these benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any mature field of research in psychology--such as short-term/working memory--is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that every theory in a field should be able to explain: Benchmarks should be reproducible, generalize across materials and methodological variations, and be theoretically informative. We propose a set of benchmarks for theories and computational models of short-term and working memory. The benchmarks are described in as theory-neutral a way as possible, so that they can serve as empirical common ground for competing theoretical approaches. Benchmarks are rated on three levels according to their priority for explanation. Selection and ratings of the benchmarks is based on consensus among the authors, who jointly represent a broad range of theoretical perspectives on working memory, and they are supported by a survey among other experts on working memory. The article is accompanied by a web page providing an open forum for discussion and for submitting proposals for new benchmarks; and a repository for reference data sets for each benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review the evidence for the 3 principal theoretical contenders that vie to explain why and how working memory (WM) capacity is limited. We examine the possibility that capacity limitations arise from temporal decay; we examine whether they might reflect a limitation in cognitive resources; and we ask whether capacity might be limited because of mutual interference of representations in WM. We evaluate each hypothesis against a common set of findings reflecting the capacity limit: The set-size effect and its modulation by domain-specificity and heterogeneity of the memory set; the effects of unfilled retention intervals and of distractor processing in the retention interval; and the pattern of correlates of WM tests. We conclude that--at least for verbal memoranda--a decay explanation is untenable. A resource-based view remains tenable but has difficulty accommodating several findings. The interference approach has its own set of difficulties but accounts best for the set of findings, and therefore, appears to present the most promising approach for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although retractions significantly reduce the number of references people make to misinformation, retracted information nevertheless persists in memory, continuing to influence reasoning. One hundred and twenty-nine lay participants completed an adaptation on the traditional continued influence paradigm, which set out to identify whether it is possible to debunk a piece of common statistical misinformation: inappropriate causal inference based on a correlation. We hypothesized that participants in the correction condition would make fewer causal inferences (misinformation) and more correlational inferences (correction) than those in the no-correction condition. Additional secondary hypotheses were that the number of references made to the misinformation and correction would be moderated by the level of trust in science and scientists, and the amount of television that participants watch. Although the secondary hypotheses were not supported, the data strongly supported the primary hypotheses. This study provides evidence for the efficacy of corrections about misinformation where correlational evidence has been inappropriately reported as causal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Information presented in news articles can be misleading without being blatantly false. Experiment 1 examined the effects of misleading headlines that emphasize secondary content rather than the article's primary gist. We investigated how headlines affect readers' processing of factual news articles and opinion pieces, using both direct memory measures and more indirect reasoning measures. Experiment 2 examined an even more subtle type of misdirection. We presented articles featuring a facial image of one of the protagonists, and examined whether the headline and opening paragraph of an article affected the impressions formed of that face even when the person referred to in the headline was not the person portrayed. We demonstrate that misleading headlines affect readers' memory, their inferential reasoning and behavioral intentions, as well as the impressions people form of faces. On a theoretical level, we argue that these effects arise not only because headlines constrain further information processing, biasing readers toward a specific interpretation, but also because readers struggle to update their memory in order to correct initial misconceptions. Practical implications for news consumers and media literacy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved)., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).)

The authors present 2 experiments that establish the presence of knowledge partitioning in perceptual categorization. Many participants learned to rely on a context cue, which did not predict category membership but identified partial boundaries, to gate independent partial categorization strategies. When participants partitioned their knowledge, a strategy used in 1 context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts. An exemplar model, attentional learning covering map, was shown to be unable to accommodate knowledge partitioning. Instead, a mixture-of-experts model, attention to rules and instances in a unified model (ATRIUM), could handle the results. The success of ATRIUM resulted from its assumption that people memorize not only exemplars but also the way in which they are to be classified., (((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved))

According to the knowledge partitioning framework, people sometimes master complex tasks by creating multiple independent parcels of partial knowledge. Research has shown that knowledge parcels may contain mutually contradictory information, and that each parcel may be used without regard to knowledge that is demonstrably present in other parcels. This article reports 4 experiments that investigated knowledge partitioning in categorization. When component boundaries of a complex categorization were identified by a context cue, a significant proportion of participants learned partial and independent categorization strategies that were chosen on the basis of context. For those participants, a strategy used in one context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts, suggesting that knowledge partitioning in categorization can be complete.