Improving assessment burden: Evaluation and comparison of time-efficient tests of verbal memory/learning in bipolar disorder.

How different rhetorical figures in Chinese advertising copy affect mental imagery, emotional responses, and memory.

Remembrance with gazes passed: Eye movements precede continuous recall of episodic details of real-life events.

Studies of memory search using the free recall paradigm have advanced our understanding of human memory for more than a century. Here, we review seven specialized recall procedures that depart from methodological orthodoxy: the inter-list repetition procedure, the list-before-last procedure, the recall-by-category procedure, the final-free recall procedure, the overt-rehearsal procedure, the externalized recall procedure, and the spatial-temporal recall procedure. Key empirical findings from each of these procedures have challenged existing theories and led to theoretical advances.

The harmful effects of task interruptions on performance in discrete visual-manual reaction-time (RT) tasks are well investigated, but the impact on continuous auditory-verbal memory tasks has received comparably less attention. In the present study, the encoding phase of an auditory-verbal free recall task was interrupted by visual-manual RT tasks. To examine which factors influence the disruptiveness of an interruption during the encoding phase, we manipulated the cognitive workload (low vs. high) associated with the interruption task and the position (early vs. late) of the intervening interruption tasks. Moreover, we manipulated the central code (verbal vs. spatial) in the high-workload interruption task. Results showed decreased free recall with late and high-workload interruptions compared to early and low-workload interruptions. However, the variation of central codes did not influence free recall in the high-workload interruption task. We also examined task trade-offs and found worse performance in the interruption task itself compared to performing it as a single task. These results suggest that memory maintenance in the memory task interferes with response selection in the interruption task. Further, we assume that early interruptions of memory encoding are less harmful than later ones because less primary task information needs to be maintained during interruption task processing. Overall, our study revealed that task interruptions lead to information loss in auditory-verbal memory encoding, highlighting the importance of minimizing interruption costs in work environments where effective communication and information exchange are crucial.

This study aimed to examine how two features-sentence pitch contour and word position-affect speech perception in noise among children and whether these effects differ between musicians and nonmusicians. The study included 51 children (20 musicians and 31 nonmusicians) aged 93 to 179 months (7.75 to 14.92 years) with normal hearing. Participants completed word identification tasks using the Sung Speech Corpus, a set of closed-set matrix sentences. Stimuli included sentences of five words varying in three sentence pitch contours-naturally spoken, mixed-pitch (different pitch for each word), and fixed-pitch (same pitch for each word)-at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) (0, +3 dB) using speech-shaped steady-state noise based on all the words combined. Neurocognitive functions, including nonverbal IQ, receptive vocabulary, and auditory short-term memory (STM) capacity, were assessed. Linear mixed-effects models analyzed the main effects and two-way interactions of pitch contour, word position in the sentence, SNR, and musicianship on word identification accuracy. Models were conducted with and without controlling for neurocognitive factors correlated with word identification accuracy to assess their impact. Recency-to-primacy differences (RP-differences) were calculated, and a separate linear mixed-effects model was used to examine the effects of pitch contour, SNR, and musicianship on RP-differences. Significant main effects of pitch contour and SNR, as well as their interaction, were observed for word identification accuracy. Performance improved progressively from fixed-pitch to mixed-pitch to naturally spoken contours and with increasing SNR. The interaction indicated that unnatural pitch contours exacerbated the decline in word identification accuracy under the lower SNR. A U-shaped pattern emerged for word identification as a function of word position, with lower performance in the middle of a sentence and highest performance at the initial or final position, reflecting primacy and recency effects, respectively. The primacy effect was more negatively affected by unnatural pitch contours (mixed-pitch and fixed-pitch) than the recency effect, as indicated by larger RP-differences for distorted contours compared with the spoken contour. Musicians and nonmusicians had comparable nonverbal IQ and receptive vocabulary, but musicians demonstrated higher auditory STM capacity. While musicians outperformed nonmusicians in overall word identification, this advantage became nonsignificant when auditory STM capacity was controlled for. No significant interactions were found between musicianship and sentence pitch contour or SNR, suggesting that musician advantage did not specifically counteract pitch contour distortions or unfavorable SNRs. Both groups exhibited comparable RP-differences, indicating that enhanced auditory STM did not provide additional benefits for recalling words in challenging positions. These findings suggest that both types of unnatural pitch contours-mixed-pitch and fixed-pitch-reduced children's speech perception in noise compared with the natural spoken contour, with the fixed-pitch condition producing the poorest performance. The primacy and recency effects in free recall were evident in school-aged children's word identification with five-word sequences, with primacy more susceptible to pitch contour distortions. Musicians' higher speech perception in noise was primarily attributed to their greater auditory STM capacity. However, this advantage did not extend to resilience against pitch contour distortions, unfavorable SNRs, or challenging word positions for recall.

It is generally well known that emotion can benefit memory; however, much less is known about how emotion influences metamemory. The present study examined how list composition and emotion influence individuals' metamnemonic judgements and performance in a free recall task. Participants studied lists of words that varied in emotional valence and made immediate judgements of learning after each word. Valence was manipulated in a mixed-list design in Experiment 1, a pure-list design in Experiment 2, and in a mixed- versus pure-list design in Experiment 4; arousal was held constant. We expected that the relative influence of emotion on metamemory would depend on participants' beliefs about how emotion influences memory and that these beliefs would be more salient in a mixed-list than pure-list design. Consistent with this, emotional words were given higher judgements of learnings than neutral words in Experiments 1 and 4, but not in Experiment 2. Posttest questionnaires (Experiments 1 and 2) and data collected from a naïve participant sample (Experiment 3) indicated that participants believed that emotional words are more memorable than nonemotional words. These results suggest that list structure influenced the degree to which judgements of learnings were responsive to emotional content. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

BackgroundIn prior research, the Digital Assessment of Cognition (DAC), a brief digitally administered neuropsychological protocol that assesses verbal episodic memory, verbal working memory, and language, has been used to classify a small sample of memory clinic patients (n = 77) into four meaningful clinical groups.ObjectiveThe current research sought to extend these findings with a considerably larger sample.MethodsThe DAC was administered to 179 ambulatory care/memory clinic patients (45.30% female; 91.10% Caucasian). A comprehensive analysis of DAC core outcome measures and behavior reflecting process/errors was undertaken. Traditional paper/pencil assessment was also obtained. Using Jak, Bondi criteria (2009), paper/pencil test results classified patients into five groups: cognitively unimpaired (CU; n = 74), subtle cognitive impairment (SCI; n = 21), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; n = 21), combined dysexecutive/mixed MCI (dys/mxMCI; n = 22), and mild dementia (n = 41).ResultsThe aMCI group presented with many of the classic features consistent with amnesia, i.e., rapid forgetting, reduced free recall clustering, and profligate responding to recognition foils. Latency for correct recognition responding was slower for aMCI compared to the CU group and appears to be associated with a neurocognitive network measuring both memory and language-related operations. SCI and dys/mxMCI groups tended to produce more perseverations on working memory test trials; and produced lower scores on DAC executive outcome measures that assessed auditory span and semantic fluency.ConclusionsThese findings support the criterion and construct validity of the DAC. When brought to scale the DAC could be an effective tool to assess for emergent MCI and dementia syndromes.

Witnesses are pivotal to police investigations and rapport-building is considered crucial to interview effectiveness. Study findings have implications for operational interviewing, research, and training. In this online study, 198 adult participants were randomly allocated to control, rapport or verbal instruction (VI) conditions, separated by age. Results showed those aged 18–33 were less accurate in free recall and more susceptible to confabulation in VI. Confidence for directive leading questions was higher in VI than rapport. Outcomes suggest a statement strengthening the requirement not to make-up details should be implemented, with effective rapport-building essential to guard against the impact of questioning.

The present study examined aging and testing-language effects on verbal list learning in young adult and older deaf bilinguals of American Sign Language (ASL) and written English. It is not known which language maximizes free recall, and no list learning task has been widely adopted for testing this population. Thirty-two younger (aged 20-45) and 32 older (aged 64-84) deaf ASL-English bilinguals completed list memory tests in each language. Participants were shown videos of 10 ASL signs and 10 written English words one at a time for immediate recall across three learning trials and a delayed recall trial, with language of testing counterbalanced. Younger participants showed no effect of language on recall, recalled more items than older participants in both languages, and had higher primacy scores on Trial 1. Older participants showed better learning when tested in English but higher rates of forgetting compared to when they were tested in ASL (a robust interaction between language and group with a medium-to-large effect size, ηp² = 0.11). Both young and older participants forgot more items in whichever language was tested second. Though most deaf participants reported being more proficient in ASL, an equal number of deaf participants recalled more English than ASL list items as vice versa (i.e., more ASL items than English items). Use of both ASL and English lists maximizes different aspects of memory performance in older deaf participants, with English benefitting learning and ASL minimizing forgetting. However, a complete characterization of memory requires testing in both languages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Witnesses may not notice crimes when they are focusing their attention somewhere else (also known as inattentional blindness). If witnesses do not notice a crime, their statements are less detailed than witnesses who noticed a crime. Under free recall questioning (e.g., “tell me everything”), witnesses who did not notice a crime were just as accurate and confident in their recall as witnesses who did notice a crime. The negative effects of failing to notice a crime on recall accuracy and confidence were only observed for cued recall (e.g., “what did the perpetrator look like?”). The results suggest that investigators must be careful to avoid direct questions with inattentive witnesses in police interviews.

In free recall, semantic associations between studied items lead to clustering of those items. In prior work, the impact of these associations on recall has been assessed using measures that are independent of participant data. For example, the semantic similarity of lemon and banana can be estimated using a distributional semantic model (e.g., latent semantic analysis) and these estimates can be used to derive semantic clustering scores. We show that instead of using pre-existing estimates of semantic similarity, it is possible to estimate semantic similarity from the data itself. In one experiment, participants study categorized word lists that are either presented randomly or blocked (arranged by category). Using established and novel analyses, we find that temporal and semantic associations interact, but that semantic associations exert a predictable influence on recall order. We use this insight to develop a model for estimating pairwise similarity and a semantic network from freerecall data. The estimated networks show high correspondence with both the category structure and a distributional semantic model (word2vec). Compared to word2vec, our model made more accurate predictions of clustering in free recall after controlling for temporal similarity, underscoring that similarity measures from different sources reflect different aspects of semantic information. We further validate the model using a large, pre-existing dataset (PEERS) of uncategorized freerecall lists. The work presents a novel methodology that has many potential applications in the study of both episodic and semantic memory.

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation enhances episodic memory across valences and memory stages.

Do age and episodic memory task performance differentially relate to tract-specific white matter microstructure? Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in a healthy adult sample.

To examine acceptability and feasibility of a technology-delivered memory assessment and intervention tool (MEMI, memory ecological momentary intervention) and its intended delivery schedule for adults with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). MEMI introduces new information, cues retrieval, and assesses learning via text messages. Community sample from Vanderbilt Brain Injury Patient Registry in Nashville, TN, USA. 20 adults with chronic, moderate-severe TBI and 20 non-injured comparison (NC) participants matched on age, sex, and education. In this crossover study, participants used MEMI for two weeks: one in which they completed all learning in a single session to approximate standard memory rehabilitation (Blocked schedule) and one in which retrievals were spaced in short, twice-daily sessions (Spaced, intended delivery schedule). The primary pilot outcomes were feasibility (session engagement) and acceptability (Acceptability of Intervention Measure). In a preliminary analysis, we also assessed delayed free recall of trained information. We also report supplementary data on participant surveys and cued recall. Participants in both groups were highly engaged and rated the tool as acceptable. On average, the TBI group rated acceptability of the Spaced schedule higher than the Blocked schedule. Both groups remembered more words at the end of the week in the Spaced schedule (TBI: t(17)=4.37, p <.001, 95% CI [2.79, 7.99]; NC: t(19)=8.57, p <.001, 95% CI[5.13, 8.46]). In this pilot study, spaced retrieval via MEMI was feasible and acceptable for adults with chronic TBI. MEMI has potential as a memory assessment and intervention tool in both therapeutic and research contexts. Future work should include a larger trial to assess MEMI's efficacy, clinical utility, individual differences, and personalizing content.

Creating maps, such as concept maps, is an elaborative activity that can promote generative learning. Although several meta-analyses have shown that engaging in mapping activities can benefit learning, there is a great deal of variation within these mapping studies. The purpose of the present study was to directly compare the effectiveness of concept mapping versus knowledge mapping for learning science content. In the first experiment, participants made both a concept and knowledge map across two sessions in a within-subjects design. Primary results indicated that concept mapping led to higher performance on the short-answer test (and specifically on verbatim items) but not the free recall test. However, an order effect was detected wherein concept mapping was more effective when participants were exposed to knowledge mapping in the first session. In the second experiment, participants made either a concept map or a knowledge map and also restudied the text across two sessions as part of a mixed design. Results indicated that there were no significant differences between mapping conditions nor between mapping and restudying conditions for any of the dependent measures. The results of the experiments suggest that the two types of maps may be equal in their effectiveness, although future research is needed to further explore these learning activities.

The relationship between hormonal reactivity to acute stress and memory is well established, but the role of anticipatory cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels remains underexplored. This study aimed to assess the psychobiological responses (anxiety, affect, cortisol and DHEA) to an academic examination, subsequent memory performance and associations between anticipatory hormonal response and memory retrieval. Seventy-nine undergraduates (10 males) completed an acquisition session involving picture encoding and immediate free recall. Forty-eight hours later, during the recall session, they sat a written examination followed by delayed free recall and recognition tasks. Results showed higher anticipatory anxiety, negative affect and cortisol levels in the recall session than in the acquisition session. Participants showed poorer delayed recall performance and reduced recognition of neutral pictures. In addition, after correction for multiple comparisons, exploratory hierarchical regression analyses indicated that anticipatory cortisol levels and the cortisol/DHEA ratio assessed prior to the recall session were negatively associated with total delayed free recall performance, with the cortisol/DHEA ratio also being negatively associated with delayed free recall of negative pictures. In the absence of a control group, these findings cannot be used to make causal inferences. However, they are consistent with theoretical accounts of DHEA’s anti-glucocorticoid role and highlight associations between cortisol/DHEA balance and delayed free recall performance, particularly for negative emotional material.

It has long been known that presenting information to multiple senses at a time (e.g., audiovisual presentation as opposed to only visual or auditory) improves later recall of said information - an effect known as the bimodal advantage. Surprisingly however, evidence for this has come only from studies employing free and serial recall, where the identity of an object is recalled, but not in cued recall, where one object feature is recalled when another one is cued. This is despite both tasks requiring binding features into an object in working memory (WM) - our brain's capacity-limited system for temporarily maintaining information for the purpose of achieving behavioral goals. The present study investigated this discrepancy across a series of four experiments. Contrary to the literature, and despite near-identical task settings, we found evidence in favor of a bimodal advantage across multiple experiments. Moreover, our results suggest that this advantage mainly arises from perceptual processes at encoding rather than from storage in an audiovisual fashion in WM. Finally, a primarily perceptually-based process, the bimodal advantage appears to be sensitive to the characteristics of the cue feature (i.e., its presentation modality). In sum, our results shed light on the mechanism of the bimodal advantage, now robustly detected in cued recall tasks, furthering our understanding of the relationship between perception and WM. Results are discussed in relation to prior studies that did not find a bimodal advantage, potential mechanisms underlying the effect, and the broader framework of the multicomponent model of WM.

BackgroundNuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor that regulates cellular defense mechanisms and has been proposed as a therapeutic target for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Preclinical studies suggest that long-term oral administration of glucoraphanin (GLR), a natural Nrf2 activator, mitigates age-related cognitive decline in animal models.ObjectiveThis study evaluated the long-term efficacy of GLR supplementation on cognitive function in older adults at an elevated risk for AD, including those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).MethodsIn a 42-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 26 participants aged 63–90 years with memory impairment were randomly assigned to receive either 30 mg/day of GLR (n = 13) or placebo (n = 12). The primary outcome was the change in Memory Performance Index (MPI) scores from the MCI Screen. Secondary outcomes included conversion/reversion rates between normal cognition and MCI.ResultsTen participants in the GLR group and nine participants in the placebo group completed the trial. Analysis using a Linear Mixed Model (LMM) across the entire study period revealed a significant group by time-point interaction for MPI scores, with the GLR group showing a significantly greater improvement in MPI scores compared to the placebo (p = 0.012). No significant group difference was observed in the initial 6 months, but a marginal difference in favor of GLR appeared in the later phase (30 and 42 months), including the 42-month endpoint (p = 0.079). Conversion/reversion rates were not significantly different. The GLR group demonstrated superior performance on immediate recall and delayed free recall tests (p < 0.001 and p = 0.012, respectively). MCI participants showed a greater MPI improvement with GLR (p = 0.029). No severe adverse events related to the intervention were reported.ConclusionLong-term GLR supplementation may help preserve cognitive function in individuals at elevated risk for AD, particularly those with MCI. Larger trials are warranted to confirm efficacy and clarify underlying mechanisms.

Older adults have impaired episodic memory abilities, but they can remember high-value information just as well as young adults and exhibit improved performance on memory-based tasks via cognitive offloading. For young adults, benefits from offloading a subset of memoranda (i.e., partial offloading) stem from both using the external memory aid to access offloaded information and better memory for nonoffloaded information, termed the saving-enhanced memory effect. Whether older adults also exhibit a saving-enhanced memory benefit from offloading is not yet known. The present study investigated if and how young and older adults' partial cognitive offloading behaviors and the benefits conferred by partial offloading change following experience with this strategy. Across two experiments, participants studied lists of words associated with varying point values under both internal memory and partial offloading conditions with the goal of earning as many points as possible on a subsequent free recall test. Participants chose a subset of words to offload before and after receiving three trials of direct instruction (Experiment 1) or extended practice (Experiment 2) using partial offloading. Across experiments, experience with partial offloading improved overall performance for both young and older adults. However, even after acquiring experience using partial offloading, young adults, but not older adults, exhibited better memory for nonsaved items, akin to the saving-enhanced memory effect. Thus, older adults benefitted from the use of an external memory aid, but internal memory resources freed up by offloading were not effectively rededicated to remembering nonoffloaded information as has been observed in young adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).