Pragmatic Inferences and Type of Processing

Barclay, Craig R.; Toglia, Michael P.; Chevalier, Dolores S.

doi:10.2307/1422601

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…First, our suspicion was supported, as the sem antic processors recalled m ore study item s and more critical nonpresented item s. Interestingly, subjects in both conditions recalled the critical nonpresented item s at very high rates. A similar pattern of findings was reported by Barclay et al (1984). They had subjects study a series of sentences, som e of which were likely to elicit a pragm atic inference, an implication not dem anded by a statement.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…M odern examples of spontaneous, as opposed to im planted, illusory m em ories for verbal materials include false recognition attributed to im plicit associative responses (IARs) (Underwood, 1965); false positives attributed to overlapp ing fam iliarity of old words and their associates (Hall & Kozloff, 1973 ;Zim merman & Kimble, 1973); false recall of prose passages (Hasher & Griffin, 1978 ;Sulin & Dooling, 1974); and confusion of old and new sentences based on thematic abstraction (Bransford & Franks, 1971). There is also evidence showing that subjects often recall the pragm atic implication of a sentence rather than the sentence itself (Barclay, Toglia, & Chevalier, 1984 ;Brewer, 1977).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recall Accuracy and Illusory Memories: When More is Less

Toglia

Neuschatz²,

Goodwin³

1999

Memory

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In two experiments it was revealed that manipulations that increased recall of studied list items also increased false recall of theme-related, critical nonpresented words. In Experiment 1 subjects listened to a series of short word lists, each containing items associatively related to a theme, while engaging in either semantic or nonsemantic processing. On an immediate free recall test semantic processors demonstrated greater correct recall as well as more illusory memories of critical nonpresented items than nonsemantic processors. In Experiment 2, the short study lists were combined to form longer lists that were presented either blocked by theme or in a random presentation order. Retention interval was also varied as participants were tested either immediately, one week after, or three weeks after the study phase. Presenting the target items in a blocked, as opposed to random, format increased recall accuracy, but this was at the expense of a higher intrusion rate for theme-consistent items. Interestingly, the level of false memories was not affected by retention interval even though typical decrements in the recall of study items were observed over time. The results of these experiments highlight the persistence of the false memory effect, as well as pointing to several factors, primarily semantic processing, that may lead to the creation of false memories. Interpretations are offered within the theoretical frameworks of source monitoring and fuzzy trace theory.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recall Accuracy and Illusory Memories: When More is Less

Toglia

Neuschatz²,

Goodwin³

1999

Memory

Self Cite

260

233

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“…In the example, the term “ champion ” implies qualities of capability and strength, which may lead the reader to infer that he/she was able to break the cinder block when, in fact, he/she might not have. Therefore, although the inference might be semantically consistent with what is presented in the sentence, it was not explicitly stated at the episodic level ( Brewer, 1977 ; Barclay et al, 1984 ; McKoon and Ratcliff, 1992 ; Graesser et al, 1994 ; Raposo and Marques, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Moreover, they represent a sensitive and robust measure for the study of false memories since they allow for the dissociation between the semantic and episodic memory levels. In other words, what is inferred and remembered from a character in a sentence depends, in part, on what the reader knows about the characteristics of the character ( Barclay et al, 1984 ). In the example, the term “ champion ” implies qualities of capability and strength, which may lead the reader to infer that he/she was able to break the cinder block when, in fact, he/she might not have.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been demonstrated that later memory recall for pragmatic inference sentences is sensitive to manipulations in the encoding phase, such as, for example, the repetition of the materials during study ( McDermott and Chan, 2006 ), or whether subjects encode sentences using or not a semantic strategy ( Barclay et al, 1984 ). Thus, despite the robustness of false memories, experimental manipulations in the way items are processed during encoding can modulate retrieval in different false memory paradigms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Imagination Reduces False Memories for Everyday Action Sentences: Evidence From Pragmatic Inferences

et al. 2021

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Human memory can be unreliable, and when reading a sentence with a pragmatic implication, such as “the karate champion hit the cinder block,” people often falsely remember that the karate champion “broke” the cinder block. Yet, research has shown that encoding instructions affect the false memories we form. On the one hand, instructing participants to imagine themselves manipulating the to-be-recalled items increase false memories (imagination inflation effect). But on the other hand, instructions to imagine have reduced false memories in the DRM paradigm (imagination facilitation effect). Here, we explored the effect of imaginal encoding with pragmatic inferences, a way to study false memories for information about everyday actions. Across two experiments, we manipulated imaginal encoding through the instructions given to participants and the after-item filler task (none vs. math operations). In Experiment 1, participants were either assigned to the encoding condition of imagine+no filler; pay attention+math; or memorize+math. In Experiment 2, the encoding instructions (imagine vs. memorize) and the filler task (none vs. math) were compared across four separate conditions. Results from the two experiments showed that imagination instructions lead to better memory, by showing a higher proportion of correct responses and better performance in a memory benefit index. Similarly, a significant reduction of false memories was observed across both experiments, even though a complementary Bayesian analysis only supported this conclusion for Experiment 1. The findings show that imaginal encoding improves memory, suggesting the engagement of a distinctiveness heuristic and source-monitoring process.

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Inferences about event outcomes influence text-based memory of event outcomes

Kou,

Hohenstein

2024

Cognitive Linguistics

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Memory of event outcomes is a topic increasingly discussed in the field of event language and cognition. This study approaches how language influences memory of event outcomes from the under-explored perspective of the verb’s “fulfilment type”, a property formulated in Talmy’s event integration theory. This property indicates the extent to which verbs depict fulfilment of intentions. Through two experiments, we explored how verbs’ fulfilment type properties shape the text-based memory of event outcomes according to their perceived likelihood of intention fulfilment. There are two major findings. First, people tend to have “fulfilment preferences” and infer that intention fulfilment is more likely than intention non-fulfilment. Second, intention-unfulfilled event outcomes tend to be remembered better for event descriptions that trigger no fulfilment perferences. This study contributes to event language and memory research by demonstrating how language-generated inferences can influence established memory of event outcomes.

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Pragmatic Inferences and Type of Processing

Cited by 4 publications

References 17 publications

Recall Accuracy and Illusory Memories: When More is Less

Recall Accuracy and Illusory Memories: When More is Less

Imagination Reduces False Memories for Everyday Action Sentences: Evidence From Pragmatic Inferences

Inferences about event outcomes influence text-based memory of event outcomes

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