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Studies have shown that local (e.g., midseries) items' specific properties, including being isolated from rest of the items, can generate a local distinctiveness effect, enhancing the memory performance for the local items in serial recall or absolute judgments. However, this has not been the case in relative (comparative) judgments. For the first time, the present study found a local distinctiveness effect in comparative judgments by using an opposite-gender name for the midseries item in an otherwise uniformly one-gender name serial list. The reasons for the previous studies' failure to produce this effect in comparative judgments and the present study's success in obtaining it were discussed. The implication of the finding for the item/order information opponent-process theories was also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory interference theories hold that exposure to more similar information to a target item impairs memory of the target item. The dud effect refers to the finding in eyewitness lineup identification that fillers dissimilar to the suspect cause more false identification of the suspect than similar fillers, contrary to the interference concept. Previous studies on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott false memory typically showed a testing priming effect that a larger number of studied items presented at test leads to a higher level of false recognition of the critical lure (CL). In the present study, either all, or all but one studied item were replaced by unrelated distractors at test. Subjects made more false recognitions of the CL in the no- or only-one-studied item than in the multiple-studied-item condition, supporting the dud-effect account. The slower response time in the "dud" condition suggested a deliberate, monitoring-like approach taken by subjects in that condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have investigated whether conscious awareness is necessary for semantic integration. Although results have varied, simultaneous presentation of words have consistently led to greater semantic integration than sequential presentation in a single location. The current studies were designed to investigate whether the disadvantage of sequential presentation for unconscious semantic integration is specific to unfamiliar word-by-word presentation in one location or extends to the more natural reading conditions of viewing items sequentially from left to right. In Experiment 1, when the first three characters of Chinese idioms were presented simultaneously under masked conditions, performance on a separate two-alternative forced-choice recognition task was at chance level. Despite being unaware of the identity of prime characters, participants were faster to indicate that a subsequent item was a Chinese character when it was congruent with the beginning of the idiom, thus providing evidence of semantic integration. In contrast, when the three (Experiment 2) or two (Experiment 3) prime characters were presented sequentially in time from left to right, there was no evidence of semantic integration. These results indicate that unconscious semantic integration is more limited than previously reported, and may require simultaneous visual presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we showed evidence of an integration between two unconscious semantic representations. In experiment 1, two masked Chinese words of the same or different categories ("orange apple" or "grape hammer") were simultaneously presented in the prime, followed by two Chinese words also of same or different categories in the target. We examined possible prime/target visual feature priming, semantic category priming and motor response priming effects. Moreover, two ISI intervals (53, 163 ms) between the prime and the target words were used to examine the positive and negative priming. The results revealed a negative motor response priming and a positive semantic category priming effect independent of the ISI when the target words were of the same category. Experiment 2 eliminated an alternative interpretation of the effect based on different number of category words changed across the prime and the target. Experiment 3 eliminated a potential confound of unequal numbers of trials for motor congruent and incongruent conditions in Experiment 1. Overall, these results indicated an integration between the meanings of the two subliminally perceived words in the prime. The difference between simultaneous and sequential presentations, and the reason why positive priming was not observed when the interval between the prime and the target was short were discussed in the context of unconscious semantic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviewed the literature comparing true and false memories. Although false memory experience is typically characterized as compellingly similar to true memory experience, research also indicates many distinctions between these two types of memory. The primary focus of this article was on comparing these two types of memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm on a number of independent and dependent measures. Studies that compared true and false memories in recall and recognition rates over retention intervals, as a function of list word presentation duration, list presentation repetition, in recall and recognition latencies, output serial position, phenomenological experiences (conscious and unconscious discrimination between these two types of memories), and neurophysiological processes were reviewed. The conclusion is that the degree to which false memory is experienced and observed as similar to or the same as true memory is a function of a number of variables in the process of acquiring and measuring the memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two research paradigms in the area of serial-order memory. One typically uses serial recall (accuracy), and the other comparative judgment (reaction time) for measuring serial-order memory. Spontaneous subgrouping is commonly observed in the recall serial-position function in the form of multiple bowings. However, comparative judgment with a reaction time measure produces a single-bowing function. Researchers adopting these two approaches have opposing views on the form of the structure of serial-order memory with the former favoring a hierarchical, and the latter a unidimensional structure. The present study confirmed the above hypothesized relation between the two measuring procedures and the two different patterns of serial-position functions. It was suggested that a serial recall involves retrieving absolute position information, whereas a comparative judgment involves retrieving relative position information, and that subgrouping serves a facilitating function for the former, but may actually impede the latter process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three recognition memory experiments were conducted using modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) and DRM paradigms. In Experiment 1, the reaction time (RT) of the false alarms to critical nonpresented words' (false memory) was compared with the RT of hits to the critical presented words and with the RT of hits to the studied list words (true memory). The RT of the false alarms to the critical nonpresented words was significantly longer than that of the hits to the critical words and than that of the studied list words. In Experiment 2, in addition to RT, participants' confidence level was measured on a 4-point scale for a yes or no response. Confidence rating was significantly higher for the hits to the critical presented words and to the list words than for the false alarms to the critical non- presented worth. Experiment 3 further showed that how similar false memory experience was to that of true memory was a function of retention size (number of lists of words retained in memory). In all three experiments, the participants' recognition RTh distinguished false memory from veridical memory, and in Experiments 2 and 3, so did their confidence ratings. Therefore, false memory and veridical memory differ at both the objective and the subjective levels. The results are consistent with a single familiarity dimension model of recognition memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines schema activation and subjects' interpretations of the problem as sources of framing effects. Risk seeking toward life versus risk averse toward property; Contextual constraints and ethical considerations; Information-processing view of framing effects; Performance limitation and problem representation; Ecological considerations.