Fragment Completion Test Research Articles

The tradeoff between item and order information in short-term memory does not depend on encoding time.

Participants can optimize encoding of an immediate verbal memory test for item or for order information, or they can try to be ready for either type of test. Dividing encoding between both kinds of information, however, comes at a cost. Recently, it has been shown that the cost is more severe for order information compared to item information (Guitard et al., 2022). Here, for the first time, we evaluated which factor can better account for this asymmetry by contrasting two hypotheses. According to a rate hypothesis, divided attention affects the rate of encoding more for order than for items. According to an alternative, asymptote hypothesis, divided attention does not affect the rates but diminishes the endpoint, or asymptotic level, of order encoding more than item encoding. In three experiments to distinguish these hypotheses, participants prepared for an item fragment completion test, an order reconstruction test, or both types of tests, in trials with different durations of presentation. Overall, our results were better accounted for by a model which assumes that dividing attention between preparation for item and order testing affects the asymptote of encoding more for order than for items, with no effects on the rates of order or item encoding compared to preparation for a single test. The findings not only replicate our prior results, but also demonstrate that the allocation of attention to item or order processing can be disentangled from the time on task. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Development and Initial Validation of a Word Fragment Completion Task to Measure Age Metastereotype Activation

AbstractResearchers have shown growing interest in the age metastereotyping process and its potential impact in organizations. Research calls have been made for new measurement tools to help advance this work. This paper presents five studies that were conducted to develop and provide initial validation evidence for a new word fragment completion test to assess age metastereotype activation in an indirect manner. We followed suggestions for best practices in the development of this type of measure (Koopman, J., Howe, M., Johnson, R.E., Tan, J.A., & Chang, C.H. 2013. A framework for developing word fragment completion tasks. Human Resource Management Review, 23 (3), 242–253.) and used Finkelstein et al.’s (Finkelstein, L.M., King, E.B., & Voyles, E.C. 2015. Age metastereotyping and cross-age workplace interactions: A meta view of age stereotypes and work. Work, Age, and Retirement, 1 (1), 26–40.) model of the age metastereotyping process as a basis for choosing correlates for the measure. We discuss the mixed pattern of relationships between the new measure and the variables proposed in that model and provide several suggestions for next steps toward continued validation and use of this measure. Further, we provide detailed information throughout the process that could serve as a springboard and time-saver for others interested in developing their own age metastereotype word fragment completion test to suit their own research needs.

Tradeoffs between item and order information in short-term memory

Recently, Guitard et al. (2021) used a two-list procedure and varied the kind of encoding carried out for each list (item or order encoding). They found that dual-list impairment on an order test was consistently greater when the other list was also encoded for an order test, compared to when it was in the presence of another list encoded for an item test. They also found a dual-list cost relative to one list, for both order and item information. Here we address the bases of the interference costs with a novel task in which, prior to each list presentation, participants were instructed to expect an item fragment completion test, an order reconstruction test, or either type of test. In five experiments, we contrast two competing accounts of item and order processing, the conflicting representation hypothesis and the common resource hypothesis. An asymmetry with larger dual-attention costs on order compared to item tests was found, with the effect magnitude changing with task conditions. Our results support a version of the common resource hypothesis in which both item and order processing occur no matter which test is expected, but in which additional processing is divided between item and order codes in a manner that depends on task demands.

The Medial Temporal Lobe Supports Conceptual Implicit Memory

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is generally thought to be critical for explicit, but not implicit, memory. Here, we demonstrate that the perirhinal cortex (PRc), within the MTL, plays a role in conceptually-driven implicit memory. Amnesic patients with MTL lesions that converged on the left PRc exhibited deficits on two conceptual implicit tasks (i.e., exemplar generation and semantic decision). A separate functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in healthy subjects indicated that PRc activation during encoding of words was predictive of subsequent exemplar generation. Moreover, across subjects, the magnitude of the fMRI and behavioral conceptual priming effects were directly related. Additionally, the PRc region implicated in the fMRI study was the same region of maximal lesion overlap in the patients with impaired conceptual priming. These patient and imaging results converge to suggest that the PRc plays a critical role in conceptual implicit memory, and possibly conceptual processing in general.

The Interplay between Prosody and Syntax in Sentence Processing: The Case of Subject- and Object-control Verbs

This study addresses the question whether prosodic information can affect the choice for a syntactic analysis in auditory sentence processing. We manipulated the prosody (in the form of a prosodic break; PB) of locally ambiguous Dutch sentences to favor one of two interpretations. The experimental items contained two different types of so-called control verbs (subject and object control) in the matrix clause and were syntactically disambiguated by a transitive or by an intransitive verb. In Experiment 1, we established the default off-line preference of the items for a transitive or an intransitive disambiguating verb with a visual and an auditory fragment completion test. The results suggested that subject- and object-control verbs differently affect the syntactic structure that listeners expect. In Experiment 2, we investigated these two types of verbs separately in an on-line ERP study. Consistent with the literature, the PB elicited a closure positive shift. Furthermore, in subject-control items, an N400 effect for intransitive relative to transitive disambiguating verbs was found, both for sentences with and for sentences without a PB. This result suggests that the default preference for subject-control verbs goes in the same direction as the effect of the PB. In object-control items, an N400 effect for intransitive relative to transitive disambiguating verbs was found for sentences with a PB but no effect in the absence of a PB. This indicates that a PB can affect the syntactic analysis that listeners pursue.

テストリストにおける学習項目の割合が線画完成課題に及ぼす影響

The ratio of studied to non-studied words on a test list is called the proportion overlap. Fujita (1994) reported that the proportion overlap affected the availability of conceptually driven processing, but not data-driven processing, on a word fragment completion test. In this experiment, we sought to extend the finding of the proportion overlap effect to a non-verbal implicit memory test. Participants previously studied either a list of pictures or words and then were presented with a picture fragment completion task. The proportion of studied items on the test was 20% or 80%. In the picture-study condition, perceptual priming occurred, and the amount of priming was not different between the 20% and 80% conditions. In the word-study condition, however, cross-form priming occurred only in the 80% condition, but not in the 20% condition. These results are consistent with the findings from the word fragment completion test, and suggest the generality of the proportion overlap effect on the data-driven implicit memory test.

Eliminating the memory blocking effect

Six experiments investigated the memory blocking effect (MBE) in which exposure to orthographically similar words (e.g., BALLOON) impairs one's ability to complete a similar fragment (e.g., BAL_ON_, solution is BALCONY). Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that blocking is not observed after a 72-hour delay; however, repetition priming was observed after the same delay. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that presenting unrelated semantic information during the fragment completion test eliminates blocking. Experiment 5 demonstrated that the MBE persists despite directed-forgetting instructions, and Experiments 5 and 6 demonstrated that activating both the solutions and blocking words for a particular fragment at study eliminates blocking. Collectively, the data demonstrate that reading orthographically similar primes automatically triggers retrieval of the blocking word and an executive control process works to manage this interference. A working framework that describes how an executive control mechanism could govern memory retrieval in the memory-blocking paradigm is presented to stimulate development of more advanced theoretical models that can explain blocking.

Retrieval-induced forgetting in perceptually driven memory tests.

Recent data (T. J. Perfect, C. J. A. Moulin, M. A. Conway, & E. Perry, 2002) have suggested that retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) depends on conceptual memory because the effect is not found in perceptually driven tasks. In 3 experiments, the authors aimed to show that the presence of RIF depends on whether the procedure induces appropriate transfer between representations and competition rather than on the nature of the final test. The authors adapted the standard paradigm to introduce lexical categories (words that shared the first 2 letters) at study and practice. Direct and indirect fragment completion tests were used at retrieval. The results showed significant RIF effects in perceptually driven tasks. Furthermore, they indicated that the presence of RIF effects depended on using adequate cuing to induce competition during the retrieval practice and on the final memory test tapping the inhibited representation.

Perceptual specificity of priming for compound words not presented.

Two experiments extended prior work on the perceptual specificity of priming to compound words not presented during a study phase. In both experiments, perceptual manipulations were employed, and priming was obtained on a word fragment completion test (e.g., c_ec_po_nt) where the lexical elements of the compounds (check and point) were presented in different study words. In Experiment 1, priming was highest when identical fragments for the lexical components were presented during the study phase (c_ec_list, needlepo_nt) and test phase (c_ec po_nt). In Experiment 2, visual study presentations, but not auditory study presentations, led to significant priming. The findings are consistent with predictions from transfer-appropriate processing and demonstrate perceptual, not lexical (post-perceptual), priming.

More on magnitude of priming in implicit memory tasks.

The effects of word frequency, length of the word, and type of word fragment in a fragment-completion test were investigated with 57 undergraduate students, 19-22 years. Priming with better performance on studied than on nonstudied words in this task was greater for low frequency words than for high frequency words and greater for fragments without the first letter than for fragments with the first letter. It was inferred that characteristics of fragments should be considered in any implicit memory task when the magnitude of priming is of interest. In general, word fragment-completion processes appear to be based on sources of information available in visual identification tasks.

Generate and test: an alternative route to knowledge elicitation in an implicit learning task.

Three experiments are reported, which examine generation of knowledge in the McGeorge and Burton (1990) invariant learning task. In this task, participants are exposed to 30 four-digit numbers containing an invariant "3". Following this participants then demonstrate a preference for novel numbers containing this invariant over numbers without it. Despite above-chance performance on this pseudo-memory test, participants appear unable to verbalize anything pertinent to the invariant. Here we introduce a novel version of this task, relying on generation of items rather than a preference test. We argue that this new task engages different processing resources, resulting in different patterns of performance. In Experiment 1, invariant learning was demonstrated using a novel fragment completion test. Experiment 2 found that suppressing articulation inhibited learning, implying that this test task accesses phonological knowledge. It is suggested that using the fragment completion test engages different processing resources during test from those in a preference test. Experiment 3 reinforces this position by demonstrating that knowledge appears to transfer across surface features, a result that seems to contradict recent findings by Stadler, Warren, and Lesch (2000). A resolution is offered, drawing on episodic accounts of implicit learning.

Recognition with and without identification: dissociative effects of meaningful encoding.

In a series of four experiments, the effects of levels of processing and generation on the recognition of identified versus unidentified word fragments were examined. After studying a list of words, participants took a word fragment completion test in which half of the fragments came from studied words and half came from nonstudied words. Regardless of whether they could complete a given fragment, the participants were asked to rate the likelihood that it came from a studied word. Recognition of identified fragments was best whenever the focus of the encoding task was on meaning. Recognition of unidentified fragments did not benefit from meaningful encoding in any of the experiments reported here but did benefit from generation. It is suggested that whereas recognition with identification involves the use of meaning, recognition without identification involves the use of abstract orthographic information in memory.

MORE ON MAGNITUDE OF PRIMING IN IMPLICIT MEMORY TASKS

The effects of word frequency, length of the word, and type of word Fragment in a fragment-completion test were investigated with 57 undergraduate students, 19–22 years. Priming with better performance on studied than on nonstudied words in this task was greater for low frequency words than for high frequency words and greater for fragments without the first letter than for fragments with the first letter. It was inferred that characteristics of fragments should be considered in any implicit memory task when the magnitude of priming is of interest. In general, word fragment-completion processes appear to be based on sources of information available in visual identification tasks.

Implicit memory is vulnerable to proactive interference.

We investigated the possibility that implicit memory, like explicit memory, can be disrupted by proactive interference. Participants first viewed a list of words, with nontargets in the first half of the list and targets in the second. Nontargets were either similar in structure (e.g., "ANALOGY") or unrelated (e.g., "URGENCY") to the targets (e.g., "ALLERGY"). After several filler tasks, participants completed an implicit fragment-completion test (e.g., "A_L_ _ GY") for the target items. Participants who viewed similar nontargets completed fewer fragments with target items and made more intrusions than did participants who viewed unrelated nontargets. Together with previous findings, these results suggest that similar nontargets can compete with target items to produce interference in implicit memory.

Directed forgetting with global forget instructions in an implicit and explicit memory test.

This study examined differences in directed forgetting effects between an implicit and an explicit memory test. 64 students (49 men, 15 women) were assigned to 4 (2 x 2) groups. In the middle of the study list, the group was given instruction to forget the presented item, whereas the control instruction group was not. Half of the subjects were given a Fragment Cued-recall test as an explicit memory test, and the other half were given a Fragment Completion test as an implicit memory test. Subjects learned an incidental learning task. Significant differences were found across conditions for instruction. The directed forgetting effect was observed on the explicit memory test (p<.05) but not on the implicit memory test. These results are discussed in terms of inhibition of retrieval theory.

DIRECTED FORGETTING WITH GLOBAL FORGET INSTRUCTIONS IN AN IMPLICIT AND EXPLICIT MEMORY TEST

This study examined differences in directed forgetting effects between an implicit and an explicit memory test. 64 students (49 men, 15 women) were assigned to 4 (2 × 2) groups. In the middle of the study list, the group was given instruction to forget the presented item, whereas the control instruction group was not. Half of the subjects were given a Fragment Cued-recall test as an explicit memory test, and the other half were given a Fragment Completion test as an implicit memory test. Subjects learned an incidental learning task. Significant differences were found across conditions for instruction. The directed forgetting effect was observed on the explicit memory test (p<.05) but not on the implicit memory test. These results are discussed in terms of inhibition of retrieval theory.

Effects of dividing attention on the memory-block effect.

S. M. Smith and D. R. Tindell (1997) reported that prior study of words that are orthographically similar to the solutions of test word fragments (e.g., studying ANALOGY and completing the fragment A_L _ _GY, whose solution is ALLERGY) reduced the fragment completion rate relative to a baseline condition in which unrelated words were studied. They called this effect the memory-block effect. In the present experiment, the authors replicated this effect using a larger set of materials than that used by S. M. Smith and D. R. Tindell. The authors also found that dividing attention at study eliminated the memory-block effect. This pattern mimicked the effect of dividing attention on recognition memory but differed from the effect on repetition priming effects. The authors suggest that the memory-block effect is driven by a mechanism different from that responsible for producing repetition priming effects in an implicit fragment completion test.

The Effect of Midazolam on Implicit Memory Tests

Substantial empirical evidence exists suggesting that there are distinct forms of explicit and implicit memory. However, methodological problems have hampered attempts to identify the nature of the information processing underlying these forms of memory. These problems include the contamination of performance on implicit memory tests by explicit memory processes, as well as a host of difficulties inherent in correlational approaches that involve amnesiac subjects. In this paper we attempt to explore whether midazolam, a benzodiazepine used in surgical anesthesia, might be useful for studying implicit memory. Specifically, we attempt to determine whether midazolam produces selective effects on explicit, as opposed to implicit, memory. We focus on midazolam because of prior studies demonstrating that benzodiazepines do not affect implicit memory and because its rapid pharmacokinetics ensure that sedative effects are minimized when testing occurs at relatively short retention intervals. The results of an experiment using free recall, fragment completion and perceptual identification tests suggest that midazolam diminishes memory in implicit and explicit memory tests, although the diminution is proportionally larger in explicit memory. These results constrain the inferences that may be drawn when midazolam is used to explore implicit memory.

On understanding familiar and less-familiar figurative language

Findings of three experiments are consistent with the graded salience hypothesis (Giora, 1997), according to which salient meanings should be processed initially before less salient meanings are activated. A meaning of a word or an expression is considered salient if it can be retrieved directly from the mental lexicon. According to the graded salience hypothesis, processing familiar metaphors (which have at least two salient interpretations — the literal and the metaphoric) should involve activation of both their metaphoric and literal meanings, regardless of the type of context in which they are embedded. Processing less familiar metaphors (which have only one salient meaning — the literal) should activate the literal meaning in both types of contexts; however, in the literally biased context, it should be the only one activated. Processing familiar idioms in a context biased towards the idiomatic meaning should evoke their figurative meaning almost exclusively, because their figurative meaning is much more salient than their literal meaning. However, processing less familiar idioms in an idiomatic context should activate both their literal and idiomatic meanings, because both meanings enjoy similar salience status. In a literally biased context, familiar idioms should evoke their more salient idiomatic meaning to a greater extent than less familiar idioms. A word fragment completion test was used to measure the amount of activation of literal and figurative meanings in both literally and figuratively biased contexts. Subjects were presented with ‘target sentences’ (metaphors or idioms) at the end of either figuratively or literally biased contexts. They were asked to complete fragmented words (such as t_b_e) with the first word that came to mind. The target words were related to either the figurative or the literal meaning of the target sentence, so that activation of the different meanings could be assessed. Findings reveal that, contrary to current beliefs, metaphor interpretation involves processing the literal meaning. They further reveal that metaphor and literal interpretations do not involve equivalent processes.

Perceptual transfer in stem-completion and fragment-completion tests.

Abstract The present research was designed to provide a direct test of the transfer-appropriate processing framework as it applies to performance on two implicit memory tasks and also to identify the component processes that are engaged on these memory tasks. The general strategy involved employing study tasks that mimicked (more so than a standard Read condition) the processing that appears to occur during the memory task. Performance on a stem-- completion task was not consistently enhanced by a study task in which participants selected potential word endings for the three-letter stems. However, inducing participants to engage in a letter-substitution task during encoding enhanced priming on a fragment-completion test, relative to the standard Read condition. Consistent with the transfer-- appropriate processing framework, the letter-substitution task showed evidence of optimizing priming effects, as additional manipulations of similarity had no further effect on performance on the implicit test. The data suggest that the Read condition does not induce maximum processing, as has been suggested previously, whereas a letter-by-letter substitution strategy mimics the processes used to complete word fragments on an implicit test. However, participants may not normally solve word stems by generating possible word endings and then selecting among these alternatives. Implicit memory tasks are operationally defined as memory tests for which the participant is given no instructions to consciously retrieve information from a prior study list, even though performance on the test may be affected by exposure to the prior study list. By contrast, explicit memory tests are defined as those for which the participant is given instructions at test to retrieve previously studied information (e.g., Richardson-Klavehn & Bjork, 1988). Although everyday uses of memory likely establish a predominant role for implicit memory (see also Masson & Graf, 1993), the extensive theoretical and empirical interest in implicit test performance over the last several years appears to have been motivated by two findings in particular. First, it is now well-established that individuals suffering from amnesia show performance on implicit memory tests that often does not differ from that of people with normal memory function (Morris & Kopelman, 1986; Richardson-- Klavehn & Bjork, 1988; Schacter, 1987; Shimamura, 1986, 1993). Although there are a few exceptions to this pattern (e.g., Hamann & Squire, 1996; Hodges, Salmon, & Butters, 1992), the generalization holds across a large number of etiological bases for the amnesia, including most forms of temporary and permanent amnesia. The second reason for interest in implicit memory is the finding that many independent variables have different effects on implicit and explicit memory performance. This research has been summarized in several places (e.g., Roediger & McDermott, 1993). Of primary relevance to the present work is the finding that performance on most tests of implicit memory is driven primarily by processing of the stimulus whereas performance on most tests of explicit memory is driven primarily by conceptual processing. Several aspects of processing have been shown to affect performance on these implicit memory tests, including typographic format (e.g., Clarke & Morton, 1983; Graf & Ryan, 1990; Jacoby & Hayman, 1987) and modality (e.g., Graf, Shimamura, & Squire, 1985; Jacoby & Dallas, 1981; Roediger & Blaxton, 1987). In contrast, conceptual processing yields much larger effects on explicit memory tasks than on implicit memory tasks (e.g., Gellatly, Parker, Blurton, & Woods, 1994). One of the most widely cited examples of this is the manipulation of depth of processing at study: Whereas depth effects are well-established on explicit tasks (e.g., Craik & Tulving, 1975), they are generally much smaller or even nonexistent on standard perceptual implicit tasks (for reviews, see Brown & Mitchell, 1994; Challis & Brodbeck, 1992; see also Hamann & Squire, 1996; Thapar & Greene, 1994). …