Free recall test experience potentiates strategy-driven effects of value on memory.

Abstract

People tend to show better memory for information that is deemed valuable or important. By one mechanism, individuals selectively engage deeper, semantic encoding strategies for high value items (Cohen et al., 2014). By another mechanism, information paired with value or reward is automatically strengthened in memory via dopaminergic projections from midbrain to hippocampus (Shohamy & Adcock, 2010). We hypothesized that the latter mechanism would primarily enhance recollection-based memory, while the former mechanism would strengthen both recollection and familiarity. We also hypothesized that providing interspersed tests during study is a key to encouraging selective engagement of strategies. To test these hypotheses, we presented participants with sets of words, and each word was associated with a high or low point value. In some experiments, free recall tests were given after each list. In all experiments, a recognition test was administered 5 minutes after the final word list. Process dissociation was accomplished via Remember/Know judgments at recognition, a recall test probing both item memory and memory for a contextual detail (word plurality), and a task dissociation combining a recognition test for plurality (intended to probe recollection) with a speeded item recognition test (to probe familiarity). When recall tests were administered after study lists, high value strengthened both recollection and familiarity. When memory was not tested after each study list, but rather only at the end, value increased recollection but not familiarity. These dual process dissociations suggest that interspersed recall tests guide learners’ use of metacognitive control to selectively apply effective encoding strategies.

Forget me not: Encoding processes in value-directed remembering

“…It seems unlikely that 1 s of encoding was enough to fully use more complex elaborative strategies such as mental imagery or putting items into a sentence. Although studies involving multiple study-test lists with feedback find that participants selectively apply elaborative strategies based on itemvalue (Ariel, Price, & Hertzog, 2015;Cohen et al, 2017) it may be that such differences in elaboration are less pronounced when learning a single list without intermittent feedback. This feedback may help them develop more selective encoding strategies (Cohen et al, 2017).…”

“…These elaborative strategies use deeper semantic and associative processing, which produces a stronger memory trace (Craik & Lockhart, 1972;Richardson, 1998). In Cohen, Rissman, Hovhannisyan, Castel, and Knowlton (2017), a large proportion of participants also reported using different mnemonic strategies based on item-value. Interestingly, many of these participants reported that they did not even attempt to selectively learn valuable items, but despite this supposed indifference to value, they still exhibited better memory for valuable material.…”

“…Based on the findings of Ariel, Price, and Hertzog (2015) and Cohen et al (2017), we hypothesized that value effects would be most pronounced on trials supporting elaborative encoding.…”

White matter integrity in brain structures supporting semantic processing is associated with value-directed remembering in older adults

“…The agenda-based regulation framework posits that time, resources, and effort are allocated based on a goal-oriented agenda that aims to maximize performance (Ariel et al, 2009;Dunlosky and Ariel, 2011;Middlebrooks et al, 2017). In accordance with this framework, both older and younger adults typically report selectively using elaborative semantic encoding strategies when learning valuable items (Ariel et al, 2015;Cohen et al, 2017). In the present dataset, 16 of 23 older adults and 14 of 19 young adults reported using strategies related to the meanings of the words to support encoding (see the supplemental material of Cohen et al, 2016, for a full description of these self-report data).…”

“…This preserved ability to selectively engage semantic strategies during encoding was interpreted to underlie older adults' preserved ability to preferentially encode high-value items in the VDR task. Other studies have further explored participants' ability to selectively attend to high-value items (Ariel et al, 2015;Robison and Unsworth, 2017) and use more effective learning strategies that involve associative and semantic processing (Ariel et al, 2015;Cohen et al, 2017). These learning strategies are thought to produce a deeper and more elaborative encoding of semantic information that has been shown to improve memory performance (Craik and Tulving, 1975;Richardson, 1998).…”