psyco 350 lec #18– slide 1 lecture 16 – psyco 350, a1 winter, 2011 n. r. brown

Psyco 350 Lec #18– Slide 1

Lecture 16 – Psyco 350, A1Winter, 2011

N. R. Brown


Outline

Autobiographical Memory

• Methods of studying autobiographical memory

• Retention Factors

• Organization– hierarchical

– event-to-event & event cueing

• Retrieval Processes


Autobiographical Memory: Methods

Cue-word Method

1. cue word event memoryi

2. event memoryi rate & date

Problems?



Cue-word MethodProblems:

• verifying event

• dating accuracy

• subjectivity of ratings



Diary Studies

• Diary Phase: Participants record (and rate) events soon after they happen.

• Test Phase: recall, cued-recall, recognition, dating rating.

Problems?



Diary Studies

Problems:

• restrictions on participants & events

• generalizing from diarist to non-diarist

• generalizing from recorded events to non-recorded events.


“The” Diary Study: Wagenaar (1986)

Diary Phase:

• each day for 5 YEARS: record 1 or more events:

Test Phase (following 5-yr diary period):

• 5 events/day

• cued recall:

1 cue 2 cues 3 cues critical detail


Wagenaar (1986): Event Coding

For each event, specify:• who• what• where• when • critical detail

For each event, rate:• salience• involvement• pleasantness


Wagenaar (1986): Results

Event Age affects event memory• cued recall: w/ age• cued recall still well above chance after 5 years



Affect affects event memory:• recall w/ emotional involvement• recall w/ pleasantness• unpleasant memories poorly recalled at first.



Distinctiveness affects event memory:• cued recall salience


AM: Retention Factors

• Event Age

• Level of Affect

• Distinctiveness

• Long-term importance


Retention Factors

Event Age: more recent events better recalled than older events.

• Reasons: decay, interference, retrieval failure, consolidation failure


Retention Factors

Level of Affect: events that elicit strong emotional response better recalled than those that do not.

• affect related to vividness of initial encoding, rehearsal/importance


Retention Factors

Distinctiveness: distinctive/unique events tend to be remember better than mundane/repetitive events

• Reasons: – mundane events tend to be schematized

– for unique events, content-based retrieval cue accesses only one event memory.


Retention Factors

Long-term Importance: important events tend to be better recalled than unimportant events.

• Reasons: – Importance related to level of overt/covert

rehearsal

– Important event have more “structural” support – elaboration, organization


Organization of AM

Organization of AM

Why understanding organization is important?

– directs/facilities search/retrieval through AM

– reflects encoding/post-encoding processing


Hierarchical Organization

Life Periods• temporally limited, thematically defined, concurrent• High school years, Turkey period, PhD years…

Event Clusters/General Events • personal narratives, mini-histories, event sequences,

generic/repeated events

• My trip to Japan, my Candidacy Exam story, breakfasts…

Individual Events

Note: many levels of nesting possible:subsub-eventsubeventevent


Conway’s Model


Conway’s Self Memory System (SMS) Model

– Life-time period:

– represents general knowledge about characteristics of a period

– when I was at university, high school.



– General events:

– associated events linked by a common theme (e.g., my trip to Toronto), or repeated events (my breakfasts).



- Event-specific knowledge:

- sensory-perceptual episodic memories (e.g.,car accident when returning from Toronto).


Conway’s SMS Model:An Example of a Retrieval Process

• Cue-word: Computer– “Thinking about the times when I was at the

university” (life-time period)

– “I am thinking of my first year IntroPsych classes (general events)

– “the computer was broken in the middle of the experiment I took part last week (ESK)


An Alternative Organization (Schank; Reiser)

Activity-based Organization

• Event memories associated w/ activity concepts they embody.

• Retrieval:– start with event-type

and specify additional features.


Horizontal Organization

Horizontal organization = event-to-event links

Horizontal links, often assumed, but little studied.

Issues:

• Do event-to-event links exist?

• How are events linked horizontally?

• How are links created/maintained?


Horizontal Organization: Two General Positions

Special Narrative Processing Position

• created ONLY by narrative processing given to important life stories

Matter-of-Course Position

• normal memory processing

• higher-level cognitive processing– planning, evaluation, comprehension

• narration


Studying Event-to-event Organization

Existing Methods

Word & phase cueing and diaries• fundamental problem: data for single events only

“tell me a story” method

• fundamental problems: selection bias, schema-driven reconstruction.


Studying Event-to-event Organization

Nonetheless, intuition, tell-me-a-story studies indicate:

• Event memories often part of larger narratives

Issues:• Determine “event cluster” prevalence • Understand clustering process(es)


Studying E-to-E Organization: Event-cueingBrown & Schopflocher (1998)

General Method:

Cueing event: auto event1 [E1]

Cued event: auto event2 [E2]

Assumption:

E1 & E2 often associated

Implication:

pattern of E1 E2 relations reflects underlying organization


Brown & Schopflocher (1998)

Two groups (during Phase 1 only):word-cued groupimportant-event group

Five Phases:1. generate cueing events2. event-cueing task3. relations-coding task4. event-dating task5. Importance-rating task


Phase 1Important-Events Condition

• E1 acquisition: Prompt event1 [E1]

• task: to recall important personal event

• (e.g., my mom and telling me that my dad was going to move out)

• 14 trials

• Retrieval time was measured

• Memories (E1s) were typed

• 72 undergrads


Phase 1Word-Cue Condition

• E1 acquisition: Cue word event1 [E1]

• task: to recall a personal event related to the cue word

• CAR when I was 15, I stole a car.

• 14 nouns



• 73 undergrads


Phase 2Event-cueing Task

• Identical for both important-events and word-cue conditions

• E2 acquisition: event1 [E1] event2 [E2]

• My mom and dad telling me my dad was going to move out [E1] Dad leaving a note on my pillow saying bye [E2] .

• All E1s served as cues




Sample Responses: Word-Cued Condition

4 2 1 1 letter this reminds me of the first letter I wrote to my best friend in Toronto• 4 2 1 1 letter When she wrote back telling me that she was returning to Edmonton• 4 2 2 0 book • 4 2 2 0 book • 4 2 3 1 flower When I bought my mother flowers for one of her birthdays• 4 2 3 1 flower I remember the huge hug I received in return from my mother• 4 2 4 1 game The first game I ever received was Monopoly on Christmas• 4 2 4 1 game I remember winning the first time I played it against my brother.• 4 2 5 1 dollar I think of the 20 dollar bill I found on my way to school• 4 2 5 1 dollar I remember going to the store and buying a month's supply of candy (grade 4)• 4 2 6 1 river I think of the barbeque my family had beside the river in China in 1993• 4 2 6 1 river I remember barbecuing fish by the river which tasted okay.• 4 2 7 1 machine when my dad bought me my first typewriter• 4 2 7 1 machine I remember when I kept everyone awake while typing in the middle of the night• 4 2 8 1 dog When I got bitten by a dog on my way to school in grade 1• 4 2 8 1 dog I remember that day was the first time I was absent for school• 4 2 9 1 picture I think of the time my family got our portraits taken in 88• 4 2 9 1 picture I remember in 3/4 of the proofs, my eyes were either half or fully closed• 4 2 10 1 car When I finally got my first car on my 18th birthday• 4 2 10 1 car I remember emptying out my bank account to pay for half of the cost.• 4 2 11 1 hand When I glued my hands together during my first experience with Crazy Glue• 4 2 11 1 hand I was trying to glue back my mother's statue that I accidently broke• 4 2 12 1 window When my thumb got smashed while closing the window very quickly• 4 2 12 1 window I remember my thumbnail turning a hideous black color and falling off.• 4 2 13 1 tree When I crashed into a tree during tobogganing with my friend• 4 2 13 1 tree I remember the huge ugly bruises on my legs afterwards• 4 2 14 1 box I think about the first jewerly box I got from aunt on 7th birthday• 4 2 14 1 box I remember the necklace she gave me along with the box


Phase 3Relation-Coding Task

• Identical for both important-events and word-cue conditions

• [E1 & E2] + Relation Menu Select relation(s)

• All event pairs scored

• Unrestricted selection

• Untimed


Phase 3Relation-Coding Task

• Event A: My mom and dad telling me my dad was going to move out.

• Event B: Dad leaving a note on my pillow saying bye– Did event A and B involve the same person or persons?– Did event A and B involve the same activity?– Did event A and B involve the same location?– Did one of the events cause the other?– Is one of the events part of the other?– Are both events part of a single broader event?– Are event A and event B related in some other way?


Phase 4Event Dating Task

• Identical for both conditions

• Ex Date for Ex

• My mom and dad was telling me my dad was going to move out June 30, 1986

• All events dated

• Random presentation

• Untimed


Phase 5Importance Rating Task

• Identical for both conditions

• Ex Importance rating for Ex (1-to-5 scale)

• My mom and dad was telling me my dad was going to move out 5

• All events rated

• Random presentation

• Untimed


Horizontal Organization: Two General Positions

Special Narrative Processing Position

• created ONLY by narrative processing given to important life stories

Matter-of-Course Position

• normal memory processing

• higher-level cognitive processing– planning, evaluation, comprehension

• narration


Competing Predictions

Narrative Position:

• Only important events will frequently cue cluster mates.

Matter-of-course Position:

• Important and unimportant events will frequently cue cluster mates


B&S Results: Event Age


B&S: Results

Defining clustered Pairs:• Clustered Pairs:

– Either cause, subevent, or "same story" relation indicated.

• Nonclustered Pairs:– Neither cause, subevent, nor "same story" relation

indicated.

% Clustered:

• Important-Events Group: 81%

• Word-Cued Group: 75%


B&S Results: Clustering & Importance

Cueing Event Importance

1 2 3 4 5

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of

Clu

ste

red

Pa

irs

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Important-Events Group Word-Cued Group


B&S Results: Clustered vs Nonclustered Pairs

Median Time(sec) to Retrieve Cued event (E2)

important-event

word-cued

clustered 6.8 6.6

nonclustered 8.4 8.2

important-event

word-cued

clustered 2.0 1.0

nonclustered 210.5 319.5

Median Difference(Days) between Cueing (E1) & Cued Event (E2)


B&S Results: Clustered vs Nonclustered Pairs

Interevent Relations as a Function of Clustering

Same

Person

Same Location

Same

Activity

Other

clustered 54% 52% 39% 16%

nonclustered 44% 33% 32% 32%


Summary

Main Claims:• Event clusters very common• Clustered events:

– causally & thematically related– temporally proximate

Evidence:• 80% clustered• RT: clustered < nonclustered• Age s: clustered << nonclustered• Overlapping story elements:

– clustered > nonclustered


Interpreting Event Clusters

• A Strong Narrative Position

• Event clusters are narratives.

• Narrative processes necessary for creation/ maintenance of autobiographical memory.


Interpreting Event Clusters

• A Comprise Position

• Clustering prompted by:– temporal contiguity– similarity– causal reasoning– goal directed planning and evaluation

• Narrative creation/maintenance facilitated by clustering


Retrieval Processes in Autobiographical Memory (Uzer, Lee & Brown, 2011)

– Generative retrieval

– Direct retrieval

Generative retrieval has been assumed as a normative form of retrieval

Models of Autobiographical memory (AM) assume two retrieval strategies:


– Concrete nouns < emotion terms

– Personal periods < common activities

– Common activities < general actions

Introduction

Retrieval processes: Reaction time (RT)

Studies have shown:


– As an index of effort required to generate appropriate cues

– Generation is easy and fast, when cue accesses to associative links

– Generation is slower and harder, when cue must be reformulated to access to associative links

Introduction

RT differences:


– RT differences reflect multiple retrieval strategies

– RTs reflect weighted blend of generative and direct retrieval modes

Introduction

Dual Retrieval Strategies Approach:


• How common are direct and generative retrieval?

• Would retrieval strategy change as a function of task conditions (e.g., the types of cues provided)?

• Would RT differences still occur holding retrieval strategy constant?

Current Questions


40 U of A undergraduate students

Within-subjects design

Procedure: Cue word : “specific personal event that is related to the cue word”

Two types of cue words:– Concrete nouns (e.g., chair, pencil, book)

– Emotion terms (e.g., shy, happy, sad)

Exp 1: Method


Concurrent verbal protocols:“Think out loud by verbalizing all your thoughts as you are thinking them”

Pressing SPACEBAR as memory is retrieved (RT)

Strategy Report: Participants were asked if the memory came directly into mind - “Y” for YES or “N” for NOBrief written report of memory

Exp 1: Method


Exp 1: Results


Exp 1: Method


Concurrent verbal protocols: Reactivity to generative retrieval

“Did this memory came immediately to mind” might create a demand for directly retrieved memories.

Exp 1: Issues



Procedure: Cue-words ---- AM (Identical to Exp 1.)


Exp 2: Method


Strategy Report:

Cond. 1 (Direct): “Did the memory come immediately to mind” Yes or No responses

Cond. 2 (Generative ) : “Did you actively search to recall this memory?” Yes or No responses

Cond. 3 (Both Option): “How did you retrieve this memory?”

-The memory came immediately to mind

-I actively searched to recall the memory

-I cannot decide between the two options listed above

Exp 2: Method


Concrete Emotion05

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Concrete Emotion05

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Direct Ret. Generative Ret.


Direct Generative

Med

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Direct ConditionGenerative Condition


Concrete Emotion

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Concrete Emotion0123456789

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Problems:Participants might be deciding about their retrieval

strategies based on time.

Asking people whether memory directly came to mind or you searched is confounded with time.

When you directly retrieve it is fast when you search it takes time.

Exp 2: Issues


Another approach: looking at “use of information”.

Direct Retrieval: You don’t use any information to find the memory, the memory comes straight to your mind.

Generative Retrieval: To find the memory you have to search for/use some type of information (e.g., people in your life, any time period, places you have been, etc).

Exp 3: Rationale



Procedure: Cue-words ---- AM (Identical to Exp 1.)


Exp 3: Method


Strategy Report:

Condition 1 (Direct Cond.):“This memory was triggered by the cue word so I did not have to use information about my life to help me recall this memory.” Yes or No responses

Yes: Direct Retrieval

Exp 3: Method


Strategy Report:

Condition 2 (Generative Cond.) : “This memory wasn’t triggered by the cue word so I had to use information about my life to help me recall this memory.” Yes or No responses

Yes: Generative Retrieval

Exp 3: Method

Psyco 350 Lec #18– Slide 72Concrete Emotion

05

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Concrete Emotion05

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Concrete Emotion

Me

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Direct Generative

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Showed the prevalence of direct retrieval in autobiographical memory

Utility of using retrieval strategy and RT measures to interpret RT differences in retrieving autobiographical memories,

Accounted for cue type effect in autobiographical memory retrieval

Significance and Future Questions

psyco 350 lec #18– slide 1 lecture 16 – psyco 350, a1 winter, 2011 n. r. brown

Documents

rate events

recorded events

associated events

recent events

mundane events

breakfastsindividual

distinctiveunique events

older events