Part-set Cuing Research Articles

Effects of Part-Set Cuing on Reminiscence

Part-set cuing has frequently been found to inhibit the recall of previously learned information; see Nickerson's 1984 work. This study investigated whether negative part-set cuing effects extend to the disruption of reminiscence, the production of new items, on a delayed second recall trial. 64 psychology students from local Further Education colleges volunteered to participate. Following random assignment to conditions participants were presented 20 unrelated words at 2-sec. intervals. After a 30-sec. interference task participants free recalled. After a delay of 5 or 30 min., part icipants recalled a second time either with or without cues. Part-set cuing inhibited the production of new words (reminiscences). Time delay, however, had no effect on reminiscence.

Does remembering emotional items impair recall of same-emotion items?

In the part-set cuing effect, cuing a subset of previously studied items impairs recall of the remaining noncued items. This experiment reveals that cuing participants with previously-studied emotional pictures (e.g., fear-evoking pictures of people) can impair recall of pictures involving the same emotion but different content (e.g., fear-evoking pictures of animals). This indicates that new events can be organized in memory using emotion as a grouping function to create associations. However, whether new information is organized in memory along emotional or nonemotional lines appears to be a flexible process that depends on people's current focus. Mentioning in the instructions that the pictures were either amusement- or fear-related led to memory impairment for pictures with the same emotion as cued pictures, whereas mentioning that the pictures depicted either animals or people led to memory impairment for pictures with the same type of actor.

SOCIAL COLLABORATION, INHIBITION AND CONTEXT

This experiment investigated whether the exchange of information in social recall situations produced an inhibitory effect comparable to that observed in part-set cuing studies. 112 participants solved anagrams either individually or with a partner, then after a brief interference task recalled the words alone. Following delay participants attempted to recall the words a second time either alone or with a partner. Pairs recalled more words on second recall than those alone. This difference was due to pooling; there was no evidence of collaborative facilitation. Individuals who encoded individually and recalled as a pair forgot more items than those who encoded and recalled individually.

Effects of Part-Set Cuing on Experienced and Novice Chess Players' Reconstruction of a Typical Chess Midgame Position

A typical midgame chess position was presented to participants for 30 sec. Participants then reconstructed the presented position on a second board from memory. Following a brief distraction phase, participants were asked to reconstruct the position a second time with 0, 6, or 12 of the original pieces present. It was hypothesized that cue presentation during second reconstruction would be more disruptive to experienced players' recall than to novices'. Recall was measured in terms of correct pieces placed, new items generated (reminiscence), and previously recalled items omitted (forgetting). Analysis indicated that cues neither facilitated nor inhibited recall: experienced players performed better than novice players across recall indices, with the exception of reminiscence at which both groups performed similarly.

Effects of the timing and identity of retrieval cues in individual recall: An attempt to mimic cross-cueing in collaborative recall

Inhibitory effects in collaborative recall have been attributed to cross-cueing among partners, in the same way that part-set cues are known to impair recall in individuals. However, studies of part-set cueing in individuals typically involve presenting cues visually at the start of recall, whereas cross-cueing in collaboration is likely to be spoken and distributed over time. In an attempt to bridge this gap, three experiments investigated effects of presenting spoken part-set or extra-list cues at different times during individual recall. Cues had an inhibitory effect on recollection in the early part of the recall period, especially when presented in immediate succession at the start of recall. There was no difference between the effects of part-set and extra-list cues under these presentation conditions. However, more inhibition was generated by part-set than extra-list cues when cue presentation was distributed throughout recall. These results are interpreted as suggesting that cues presented during recall disrupt memory in two ways, corresponding to either blocking or modifying retrieval processes. Implications for explaining and possibly ameliorating inhibitory effects in collaborative recall are discussed.

Part-set cuing effects in younger and older adults.

In 3 experiments, the authors examined part-set cuing effects in younger and older adults. Participants heard lists of category exemplars and later recalled them. Recall was uncued or cued with a subset of studied items. In Experiment 1, participants were cued with some of the category names, and they remembered fewer never-cued categories than a free-recall condition. In Experiment 2, a similar effect was observed for category exemplar cues. There was also an age difference: By some measures, a small number of cues impaired older adults more than younger. Experiment 3 replicated this result and found that older adults were disproportionately slow in the presence of cues. Across experiments, older adults showed robust part-set cuing effects, and sometimes, they were disproportionately impaired by cues.

Part-set cuing of order information in recall tests

Serra and Nairne (2000, Experiment 3) showed that serial reconstruction of lists was better with consistent part-set cues (cues presented in their original positions) and worse with inconsistent part-set cues (cues presented in different positions) than with no cues. To determine if those results can be generalized beyond serial reconstruction, the present research examined the effect of consistent and inconsistent cues on serial and free recall. In Experiment 1, serial recall was facilitated with consistent cues but impaired with inconsistent cues. In Experiment 2, free recall was relatively little influenced by cuing condition. In Experiment 3, part-set cuing inhibition occurred when cues were segregated from the recall protocol but cues were not always inhibitory when cues were integrated. It was concluded that the effect of cues on item memory may be mediated by their effect on order memory.

Semantic generation can cause episodic forgetting.

The repeated retrieval of a subset of previously learned items can cause forgetting of the nonretrieved items. The study reported here investigated whether retrieval-induced forgetting generalizes to a situation in which the retrieved and nonretrieved items are not part of the same experiential episode and task. Subjects learned an item list that they had to recall later in the experiment. In a separate intermediate phase, they repeatedly generated related items from semantic memory, or were presented the same items intact for study. Only the semantic generation of items, and not their presentation for study, induced forgetting of the initially learned items. This result indicates that, first, semantic generation can cause recall-specific episodic forgetting and, second, retrieval-induced forgetting can occur even if the retrieved and nonretrieved items belong to different experiential episodes and tasks. Connections of the present results to other memory phenomena, such as part-set cuing and the generation effect, social cognition, and eyewitness memory, are discussed.

Part-set cuing of false memories.

Part-set cuing inhibition describes the common finding that re-presenting items from a word list can reduce subjects' overall recall performance for studied items. Do part-set cuing effects occur for false memories as well? In the present experiments, subjects studied lists of words drawn from Roediger and McDermott (1995). After studying each list, subjects completed math problems and then recalled the list items either with or without accompanying list cues. In Experiment 1, the recall cues consisted of items drawn randomly from the original list. In Experiment 2, an additional type of cued recall task was added in which the even numbered list items were used as cues. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate robust part-set cuing effects for critical nonpresented items. In addition, they show that whereas recall of critical words is reduced by the presence of cues at test, retrieval cues do not affect critical words and studied words in exactly the same manner.

Category structure, brand recall, and choice

Most marketing discussions of product-markets and competitive positioning implicitly assume that consumers are aware of product category structures. In the present research, we examine this assumption and show how the provision of structure can improve the quality of consumer decisions. The results of the first study suggest that provision of structure increases brand recall and decreases inhibitory effects of part-set cues. In a second study, we show that these positive effects on recall carry over to brand choice, in a memory-based decision. Consumers are able to make choices that are consistent with their preferences when they use an existing category structure to retrieve product information.

Part-Set Cuing is Due to Strong, Not Weak, List Cues

Part-Set Cuing is Due to Strong, Not Weak, List Cues

Part-set cuing of order information: implications for associative theories of serial order memory.

In three experiments, the effect of cuing, at the point of test, on memory for order and/or position was investigated. Experiment 1 used a partial reconstruction of order task to demonstrate a mnemonic benefit of part-set cuing at the time of test; this result is used to argue that people may commonly use interitem associative information, rather than just position information, to help them remember serial order. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and simultaneously demonstrated the mnemonic detriment that part-set cuing typically produces in free recall. Experiment 3 showed that cues presented at test will either help or hinder reconstruction of order, depending on whether those cues are consistent or inconsistent with the original presentation order. The results of all three experiments are discussed within the framework of position and associative theories of serial order memory.

Environmental Support and Design: An Information Processing Perspective

Environmental Support has been loosely defined to mean those aspects of a task that reside outside the person. For instance, a recognition task is said to provide more environmental support than a recall task. Recall is usually inferior to recognition, and recognition tasks tend to minimize age differences in memory performance. However, there are memory tasks where having partial information presented at test (e.g., “part-set cueing”) makes people worse at recalling prior information than the simple “recall” cue. Similarly, presenting a display with task-irrelevant information will hurt the detection performance of older adults more than that of younger adults, probably because older adults inhibit the irrelevant information less successfully. We will present a framework for understanding task performance and environmental support that can be useful for deciding when presenting information in the environment will help or hinder task performance and review some evidence for that framework. Implications for designing age-appropriate technology will also be presented.

OLD AGE, INHIBITION, AND THE PART-SET CUING EFFECT

This experiment tested the hypothesis that older adults have a general inhibitory deficit. The part-set cuing effect, which occurs when people recall fewer items from a set after being cued with some items of the set, was examined, as this effect is assumed to be caused by general inhibition. Both older and younger adults recalled state names and movie stars following either study of a cue list of 25 items or no such study. No part-set cuing effect was observed for either age group for very-well-remembered states, but younger adults showed the expected effect for movie stars. In support of an inhibitory deficit for older adults, they did not show any part-set cuing effect and actually bene ted from cues. Equal overall performance and equal recall of cued items indicates that these results are due to age differences in inhibition rather than a retrieval or cue processing deficit in older adults. The importance of this inhibition deficit for adult education is discussed.

Part‐set cueing effects in a diagnostic setting with professional auditors

The aim of this research is to examine the generality of the part-set cueing effect, a well-known memory-inhibition phenomenon in basic research, to professional problem diagnosis. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 examines whether part-set cueing affects the ability of auditors to recall diagnoses, and if so, whether memory inhibition is affected by the plausibility of the hypotheses. Experiment 2 examines whether the part-set cueing effect is sensitive to changes in the symptoms that drive the diagnosis and whether differences in inhibition occur because of prompt plausibility or because of target plausibility. Experiment 3 extends the findings of the first two experiments to hypothesis generation and discriminates between competing accounts for the part-set cueing effect. The results show that part-set cueing effects occur during hypothesis generation and that they are robust to changes in the symptoms. However, the results from the experiments reveal an asymmetric inhibition effect. Inhibition is significant when prompts contain low plausibility hypotheses that are also high in severity. When prompts consist of high plausibility or low severity hypotheses, no inhibition is observed. These findings are considered to be consistent with an editing account of the part-set cueing phenomenon. The implications of these findings to problem diagnosis and decision aids are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Part-set cueing effects in a diagnostic setting with professional auditors

The aim of this research is to examine the generality of the part-set cueing effect, a well-known memory-inhibition phenomenon in basic research, to professional problem diagnosis. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 examines whether part-set cueing affects the ability of auditors to recall diagnoses, and if so, whether memory inhibition is affected by the plausibility of the hypotheses. Experiment 2 examines whether the part-set cueing effect is sensitive to changes in the symptoms that drive the diagnosis and whether differences in inhibition occur because of prompt plausibility or because of target plausibility. Experiment 3 extends the findings of the first two experiments to hypothesis generation and discriminates between competing accounts for the part-set cueing effect. The results show that part-set cueing effects occur during hypothesis generation and that they are robust to changes in the symptoms. However, the results from the experiments reveal an asymmetric inhibition effect. Inhibition is significant when prompts contain low plausibility hypotheses that are also high in severity. When prompts consist of high plausibility or low severity hypotheses, no inhibition is observed. These findings are considered to be consistent with an editing account of the part-set cueing phenomenon. The implications of these findings to problem diagnosis and decision aids are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Part-Set Cuing in Incidental and Implicit Memory

We report inhibitory effects of part-set cuing in an incidental memory task. Even when subjects did not expect a memory test during study, re-presentation of some of the study words (Experiments 1 and 2) or presentation of related words (Experiment 3) during test inhibited memory performance. Also, in Experiment 3, inhibitory effects of part-set cuing emerged when subjects were completing fragments of the studied words, but only when they were explicitly trying to remember those words from the list. There was a facilitatory effect of part-set cuing when subjects were simply completing the fragments with the first words they could think of. These results suggest that the part-set cuing effect is largely independent of what happens during the study phase and dependent on a deliberate effort to remember during the test phase.

Negative effects of part-set cues: Are they reversible?

In a number of studies, it has been reported that the negative effect of part-set cues on recall disappears when a second recall test is administered without cues. The present experiments show that the removal of cues does not significantly increase the recall of new items on a second test over that obtained in two successive tests without cues, or in two successive tests with cues. The part-set cuing effect does not appear to be reversible by retesting without cues.

Setting boundary conditions on the part-set cuing effect

The effects of part-set cues were compared in free-recall and nonfree-recall retention tasks. During word presentation in Experiment 1, subjects read or completed fragments of list members. Output tasks were either fragment-completion or free-recall tests, both of which were cued or uncued. Although part-set cues inhibited recall, they did not influence fragment completion. Absence of negative cuing effects in fragment completion is contrary to research reported by Peynircioglu (1989) and suggests that cues are inhibitory when items are retrieved relationally but not when items are retrieved individually. Or, alternatively, cues may only be inhibitory when subjects consciously attempt retrieval. To test this idea, in Experiment 2, subjects were given indirect- or direct-memory associative tests, which were compared with free recall. In the indirect test, subjects were given stimulus words and were asked to provide a free associate for each; in the direct test, subjects were asked to recall an appropriate list member for each stimulus word. Part-set cues reduced recall but did not influence performance on either of the associative tasks. Overall, these results suggest that negative cuing is more likely to occur when items are retrieved relationally rather than individually.

Setting boundary conditions on the part-set cuing effect

The effects of part-set cues were compared in free-recall and nonfree-recall retention tasks. During word presentation in Experiment 1, subjects read or completed fragments of list members. Output tasks were either fragment-completion or free-recall tests, both of which were cued or uncued. Although part-set cues inhibited recall, they did not influence fragment completion. Absence of negative cuing effects in fragment completion is contrary to research reported by Peynircioglu (1989) and suggests that cues are inhibitory when items are retrieved relationally but not when items are retrieved individually. Or, alternatively, cues may only be inhibitory when subjects consciously attempt retrieval. To test this idea, in Experiment 2, subjects were given indirect- or direct-memory associative tests, which were compared with free recall. In the indirect test, subjects were given stimulus words and were asked to provide a free associate for each; in the direct test, subjects were asked to recall an appropriate list member for each stimulus word. Part-set cues reduced recall but did not influence performance on either of the associative tasks. Overall, these results suggest that negative cuing is more likely to occur when items are retrieved relationally rather than individually.