Neural correlates of individual differences in strategic retrieval processing.

Full Abstract

Processes engaged when information is encoded into memory are an important determinant of whether that information will be recovered subsequently. Also influential, however, are processes engaged at the time of retrieval, and these were investigated here by using event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure a specific class of retrieval operations. These operations were revealed by contrasts between ERPs elicited by new (unstudied) test items in distinct tasks, the assumption being that these contrasts index operations that are engaged in service of retrieval and that vary according to the demands of different retrieval tasks. Specific functional accounts of this class of retrieval processing operations assume that they influence the accuracy of memory judgments, and this experiment was designed to test for the first time whether this is in fact the case. Toward this end, participants completed 2 retrieval tasks while ERPs were acquired, and the extent to which processes were engaged differentially across tasks in service of retrieval was operationalized as the magnitude of the differences between the new-item ERPs that were elicited. This measure correlated positively with response accuracy on the tasks, which provides strong evidence that this class of retrieval processing operations benefits the accuracy of memory judgments. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Bridger, Emma K (EK); Herron, Jane E (JE); Elward, Rachael L (RL); Wilding, Edward L (EL);

Affiliation: Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. BridgerEK(-atsign-)cardiff.ac.uk

Grants: (Agency:Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 35 (issue 5) : pp 1175-86

Dates: Created 2009/08/18; Completed 2009/10/08;

PMID: 19686013, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/8/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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