Recency Effect Research Articles

Distinct role of flexible and stable encodings in sequential working memory

The serial-position effect in working memory is considered important for studying how a sequence of sensory information can be retained and manipulated simultaneously in neural memory circuits. Here, via a precise analysis of the primacy and recency effects in human psychophysical experiments, we propose that stable and flexible codings take distinct roles of retaining and updating information in working memory, and that their combination induces serial-position effects spontaneously. We found that stable encoding retains memory to induce the primacy effect, while flexible encoding used for learning new inputs induces the recency effect. A model simulation based on human data, confirmed that a neural network with both flexible and stable synapses could reproduce the major characteristics of serial-position effects. Our new prediction, that the control of resource allocation by flexible–stable coding balance can modulate memory performance in sequence-specific manner, was supported by pre-cued memory performance data in humans.

The dynamics of memory retrieval for internal mentation

Daily life situations often require people to remember internal mentation, such as their future plans or interpretations of events. Little is known, however, about the principles that govern memory for thoughts experienced during real-world events. In particular, it remains unknown whether factors that structure the retrieval of external stimuli also apply to thought recall, and whether some thought features affect their accessibility in memory. To examine these questions, we asked participants to undertake a walk on a university campus while wearing a lifelogging camera. They then received unexpected recall tasks about the thoughts they experienced during the walk, rated the phenomenological features of retrieved thoughts, and indicated the moment when they were experienced. Results showed that thought retrieval demonstrates primacy, recency, and temporal contiguity effects, and is also influenced by event boundaries. In addition, thoughts that involved planning and that were recurrent during the walk were more accessible in memory. Together, these results shed new light on the principles that govern memory for internal mentation and suggest that at least partially similar processes structure the retrieval of thoughts and stimuli from the external environment.

Information Presentation Pattern, Information Order and Framing Effect in Taking Investment Decisions

The aims of this study are to examines the pattern of information presentation, the order of information and framing effect in investment decision making. the pattern of information presentation and the order of information explained by belief adjustment model developed by Hogarth and Einhorn (1992), beside that framing effect explained by prospect theory, fuzzy trace theory and probabilistic mental model. This study used experiment design 2x2x2 mixed design. Total subjects in this study were 104 students from STIE Perbanas Surabaya consisting of 90 students bachelor degrees of accounting and 14 students bachelor degrees of management. This study uses a pencil based experiment which filling out the questionare that was answered manually by participants.the results show that: (1) there are bias judgement especially recency effect in the presentation of step by step with the framing condition appropriate in information; (2) there are bias judgement when gives the presentation of step by step with the framing condition appropriate and not appropriate in information, and (3) when do mix of the pattern of information presentation with framing condition appropriate in information bias judgement happened. Overall this results show that the belief adjustment model developed by Hogarth and Einhorn (1992), prospect theory, fuzzy trace theory and probabilistic mental model is partially hold in investment decision making.

Analyzing the recency effects on long series audit information and its mitigation methods with group discussions

This study aims to examine the recency effect that occurs due to the effect of sequences on long series audit information and test the effectiveness of group discussion to improve the decision quality. The recency effect is a tendency to give more weight to the latest information compared to other information received. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a method for mitigating the recency effect by using group discussion. This study used a 2x2x2 experimental design for a subject with 81 participants from accounting students. The results show that the individual decision quality that experienced the recency effect due to positive-negative and negative-positive sequential information after group discussion became better than before group discussion. The individual decision quality that experienced the recency effect due to positive-negative simultaneous information could not be mitigated by group discussion. Group discussion is an effective method for overcoming the recency effect on sequential information rather than on simultaneous information. Therefore, group discussion can be used as a strategy to reduce recency effects and improve the quality of audience decisions.

Recency memory effects in Macaques during sequential delayed match-to-sample task with visual noise

Visual object recognition requires both visual sensory information and memory, and its mechanisms are often studied using old-world monkeys. Wittig et al. (2014, 2016) reported that Rhesus monkeys and humans seem to adopt different strategies in a short-term visual memory task. The Rhesus monkeys seemed to rely on recency of stimulus repetition, whereas humans relied on specific memorization. We conducted experiments using a sequential delayed match-to-sample task with random dot visual noise using Rhesus and Japanese monkeys and found that recency effect was observed in both species. There were differences in the noise effect on behavioral performances across species.

A-42 Case of Persistent Amnestic Syndrome due to Small Right-Sided Retrosplenial Lacunes

Abstract Objective Lesions to the retrosplenial cortex secondary to acute stroke or tumor have been shown to disrupt Papez’s circuit due to disconnection between the anterior thalamus and hippocampus, via the posterior cingulate, producing an amnestic syndrome. This case demonstrates how small but strategic lacunes in this region may produce memory deficits. Method The patient is a 52-year-old, right-handed, African-American woman with 18 years of education who reported memory changes over the last 8 years (e.g., misplacing items, forgetting details of conversations). Her medical history was notable for BMI of 31 and borderline diabetes. She completed structural magnetic resonance imaging 6 years prior to, and concordant with, her neuropsychological evaluation. Both scans showed two small (2-3 mm) right-sided retrosplenial lacunes, without evidence of hippocampal or global volume loss over the 6-year span. Results Her neurocognitive profile was characterized by impairments in both verbal (stories, word-list) and figural memory, with relative strengths in attention, processing speed, and executive functioning. Across memory measures, she performed in the low average-to-mildly impaired range on immediate recall, mildly-to-severely impaired range on delayed recall, and did not benefit from yes-no recognition format. She demonstrated additional features of an amnestic profile, including flat learning slope, recency effect, elevated cued recall intrusion errors, and very elevated false positive errors on recognition. Conclusions Findings expand upon the existing literature to show that chronic, small retrosplenial lacunes can disrupt the connection between the anterior thalamus and hippocampus, resulting in a clinical presentation of circumscribed memory impairment that persists years beyond acute vascular changes.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with altered modulation of prefrontal alpha band oscillations during working memory

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between the severity of PTSD symptoms, modulation of alpha band oscillations, and behavioral performance in a working memory task. MethodsMagnetoencephalography data were recorded in 35 participants with combat exposure and various degrees of PTSD symptom severity while they performed a modified Sternberg working memory task: briefly presented sets of two or six letters had to be held in memory and participants indicated whether subsequent probe letters were present or absent from these sets. ResultsPTSD scores were positively correlated with the false positive rate in the high memory load condition. Higher rates of false recognition were associated with negative probes that were seen in recent previous trials (negative probe recency effect) or were physically similar with the list letters. The relative alpha band power in the left middle frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with both PTSD scores and false positive rates. ConclusionsReduced task specific modulation of alpha band oscillations in left middle frontal cortex may reflect alterations in the functions of pattern separation and suppression of memory traces for irrelevant or no longer relevant information in PTSD. SignificanceThe lower amplitude of prefrontal alpha band oscillations may represent an important physiological basis for core PTSD symptoms and can provide a target for interventions to augment response to treatment.

Do stock investors need to discuss to reduce decision bias?

The research examines the role of discussion in investors’ decision in a step-by-step information setting. Several studies present that disclosure strategy stimulates order-effect bias, but simultaneous information decreases the impact of that bias. This bias makes people weigh more heavily to recent observations than they do to older ones. Using step-by-step information, a recency effect is expected to be found. This study uses an experimental method. The participants are the representation of non-professional investors in the stock market because of a lack of knowledge and experience. Participants are also a reflection of the customer easiness in registering to be stock traders. The role of discussion between participants is a new feature of this experiment. After evaluating participants’ decision in a discussion, the experiment shows that an individual’s choice after discussion produces more bias, although they already learn the information before the discussion. The research finds that (1) using the within-subject sample, group discussion produces overvaluation (undervaluation) in positive (negative) sequential information, (2) there is bigger price revision when negative sequential information is presented. This study suggests disclosure strategies for companies. Considering a recency bias, companies must present step-by-step information when they disclose good news, but they must avoid step-by-step disclosures when giving bad news. The second practical implication is for investors; they need to think about the benefits of joining an investor club, since the discussion exacerbates recency bias. These results are expected to contribute to finance literature.

Remembering faces: The effects of emotional valence and temporal recency

It is known that the longer an information has been memorized, the stronger is its memory trace, and that emotionally-valenced information is more solid than neutral one. We investigated whether the emotional content of recent information might enhance its memory, making it as familiar as information known for a long time. We compared ERPs alternately recorded in response to old and solid information from long term memory (i.e., faces of popular movie stars), to recently acquired emotional information (faces of fictional characters), and to completely new information (faces of previously unknown people). Initially participants familiarized with the fictional police dossiers of 10 victims of dramatic deaths (recent faces), twice a day for seven days before EEG recordings. Recent faces were compared with faces of movie stars and unknown faces in an old/new recognition task. N200 and FN400 responses were affected by face familiarity (with no difference between old and recent faces), while parietal late positivity (LP) was sensitive to temporal recency, being it greater to old than recent faces. Interestingly, LP amplitude was similar for old and recent own-sex faces (victims) that were therefore equally memorable. It is shown that emotional memory can overcome temporal recency thus improving memory recall.

Using response time distributions and race models to characterize primacy and recency effects in free recall initiation.

Primacy and recency effects are common benchmarks for models of free recall and episodic memory. In this work, we show that RT distributions carry diagnostic information about how items enter into competition for recall, and how that competition impacts on the dynamics of recall and leads to novel conclusions about the forms of primacy and recency effects. We jointly fit RT distributions and serial position functions for free recall initiation with both a racing diffusion model and the linear ballistic accumulator (LBA: Brown & Heathcote, 2008). The models were fit in a hierarchical Bayesian framework, factorially varying different assumptions of how primacy and recency are generated. Recency functions were either exponential or power law in shape. Primacy was treated either as a strength boost to the early list items so that both primacy and recency items jointly compete to be retrieved; a mixture of primacy and recency gradients reflecting the usage of different retrieval cues; or a primacy-as-recency account in which primacy items are functionally recent due to the contribution of rehearsal. Although serial position curves do not distinguish between these accounts, they make distinct predictions about how RT distributions vary across serial positions. Results from a number of data sets strongly favor an exponential recency function along with a mixture model of primacy and recency gradients. These results suggest that complete RT distributions can provide informative constraints on models of free recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Image transfer based on exposure sequence and time gap between exposures in sport sponsorship: Testing of primacy and recency effects

Purpose The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of exposure sequence and time gap between two exposures in image transfer in the context of sport sponsorship. Methods To accomplish the purpose of the study, one preliminary study and one main study were performed. The sample was drawn using a convenience sampling (33 for preliminary study and 120 for the main study). The data were analyzed using one sample t-test, repeated measure ANOVA(mixed design). Results The data for the main study indicated that the mean of the post-test was statistically higher than that of pre-test, which indicated that the image of the sporting event was transferred to the image of the brand Dell. This indicated that the image transfer actually took place although image similarity between sporting events and sponsoring brand was not conditioned. The hypotheses of the study were tested using a mixed design with exposure sequence and time gap between exposures as two between subject factors. The results indicated that the interaction was statistically significant. When two sponsorship information were given consecutively, the first sport event’s image was transferred more than the image of the secondly presented sport event, which indicated primacy effect. However, when the two sponsorship information was given with two days time gap, the image of the second sport event was transferred more than the first sport event’s image, which indicated a recency effect. Conclusions Two meaningful findins were delivered through the current study. First, even when there was no image similarity between sport event and brand, image transfer took place through sponsorship arrangement. Second, if primacy and recency effects are properly incorporated, image transfer can be achieved in a more effective way in sponsorship context.

Offloading memory: Serial position effects.

Despite the long history and pervasiveness of cognitive offloading as a memory strategy, the memorial fate of offloaded information is not well understood. Recent work has suggested that offloading information may engage similar mechanisms as instructions to forget (e.g., directed forgetting). In the present investigation, we test this prediction by examining the serial position effect for offloaded information. Previous research has demonstrated that "forget" instructions can eliminate the primacy effect while leaving an intact recency effect. Across two experiments, participants completed a number of free recall trials using an external aid and then a final recall trial without the external aid. We compared a group that was expecting to use the aid for the final trial (offloading) with a group that was not (no-offloading). We found a memory impairment for offloaded items that was characterized by a reduced primacy effect but a typical recency effect, similar to what has been reported in research on intentional/directed forgetting.

Image transfer based on exposure sequence and time gap between exposures in sport sponsorship: Testing of primacy and recency effects

Image transfer based on exposure sequence and time gap between exposures in sport sponsorship: Testing of primacy and recency effects

Measuring Trust in Medical Researchers: Adding Insights from Cognitive Interviews to Examine Agree-Disagree and Construct-Specific Survey Questions.

While scales measuring subjective constructs historically rely on agree-disagree (AD) questions, recent research demonstrates that construct-specific (CS) questions clarify underlying response dimensions that AD questions leave implicit and CS questions often yield higher measures of data quality. Given acknowledged issues with AD questions and certain established advantages of CS items, the evidence for the superiority of CS questions is more mixed than one might expect. We build on previous investigations by using cognitive interviewing to deepen understanding of AD and CS response processing and potential sources of measurement error. We randomized 64 participants to receive an AD or CS version of a scale measuring trust in medical researchers. We examine several indicators of data quality and cognitive response processing including: reliability, concurrent validity, recency, response latencies, and indicators of response processing difficulties (e.g., uncodable answers). Overall, results indicate reliability is higher for the AD scale, neither scale is more valid, and the CS scale is more susceptible to recency effects for certain questions. Results for response latencies and behavioral indicators provide evidence that the CS questions promote deeper processing. Qualitative analysis reveals five sources of difficulties with response processing that shed light on under-examined reasons why AD and CS questions can produce different results, with CS not always yielding higher measures of data quality than AD.

Recency Effect Revealed in Mass Media

의사결정의 중요성은 아무리 강조해도 지나치지 않지만 합리적 의사결정은 한정된 역량과 자원, 다양한 편견, 편향 등으로 인해 방해받기 마련이다. 이 연구는 이런 편향 중의 하나인 최신효과가 다수 대중에 의해 장기간 지속적으로 발생하는 사례를 확인, 제시하고자 한다. 구체적으로, 이 연구는 진정한 실력만으로 승자를 가리겠다는 인기 TV 가요경연프로그램의 경연결과를 통계적으로 분석하여, 승부가 과연 진정한 실력에 의해 결정되고 있는지, 아니면 편향에 의한 것인지 살펴보고자 한다.BR 연구 대상 프로그램인 ‘북면가왕’에서 모든 출연자는 복면을 착용한다. 복면은, 음성 변조와 함께, 정체는 물론 인기와 경력, 활동분야 등 불공정한 평가를 초래할 수 있는 다양한 정보(잠재적 요인)들을 효과적으로 차단함으로서 공정한 평가를 가능케 할 것으로 기대된다. 복면으로도 가려지지 않는 요인이 있다면 그것은 추정 가능한 성별과 연령, 그리고 출연순서 정도이다.BR 분석 결과에 의하면 복면가왕 경연은 공정과는 거리가 멀었다. 승부는 두 번째 출연자 쪽으로 크게 기울어져 있었다. 2, 3라운드 2인 경연에서 두 번째 출연자의 누적 승률은 73.7%로 첫 번째 출연자 승률의 거의 세배 정도였다. 두 번째 순서 출연이 절대적으로 유리한 이런 현상은 순서 자체가 명확하지 않은 1라운드 경연에서는 전혀 나타나지 않았다는 점에서 명확히 비교된다. 한편, 승률은 연령대에 따라 다소 차이가 있었으나 성별은 승패와는 연관성이 없었다. 그러나 연령대에 따른 승률 차이도 두 번째 출연자의 비정상적으로 높은 승률을 설명하지는 못하였다. 두 번째 출연자가 유리하다는 사실은 출연순서 별 승패간의 표 차이로도 확인되었다. 두 번째 출연자가 승리할 때의 표 차이는 그 반대의 경우보다 훨씬 더 컸다.BR 결론적으로, 불공정한 평가를 초래할 수 있는 많은 요인들이 복면과 음성변조로 차단되어 있는 상황에서 승패는 우연으로는 설명이 불가능할 만큼 출연순서에 따라 크게 좌우되었다. 후순위출연자는 승률이 높을 뿐만 아니라 이길 때의 표 차이도 컸다. 성별과 연령 및 상호작용효과로도 설명이 되지 않는 이런 현상이 장기간 지속적으로 일관성 있게 나타나는 것은 최신효과로 설명할 수 있다. 최근에 보고 들은 것, 특히 감성적이고 선명한 경험을 더 잘 기억하는 인간의 성향이 두 번째 출연자를 더욱 긍정적으로 평가하고, 결과적으로 승률을 높게 만든 것으로 볼 수 있을 것이다.

Time course of the physiological stress response to an acute stressor and its associations with the primacy and recency effect of the serial position curve.

Whether stress affects memory depends on which stress pathway becomes activated and which specific memory system is involved. The activation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), leads to a release of catecholamines. The activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leads to a release of glucocorticoids. In thus study, it was investigated whether SNS and/or HPA axis activation are associated with long-term memory (LTM) and/or working memory (WM) performance in humans. Thirty-three participants underwent the socially evaluated cold-pressor test. Salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) was used as a marker for the activation of the SNS and cortisol as marker for HPA axis activation. Memory was assessed by means of word lists with 15 words each. The primacy effect (i.e., the correctly recalled words from the beginning of the lists) of the serial position curve was considered as indicator for LTM. The recency effect (i.e., the correctly recalled words from the end of the lists) were used as estimator for WM performance. In sAA responders, the recency effect and, therefore, WM performance increased immediately after the stressor. This was not found in sAA non-responders. In cortisol responders, the primacy effect and, thus, LTM performance decreased 20 minutes after the stressor. No change in LTM performance was found in cortisol non-responders. Our study supports the assumptions that 1) SNS activation is associated with WM processes via stimulation of the prefrontal cortex, and 2) HPA axis activation is associated with LTM processes through interactions with the hippocampus.

Individual differences in children’s comprehension of temporal relations: Dissociable contributions of working memory capacity and working memory updating

In two experiments, we examined 9- to 12-year-old children’s comprehension and processing of two-clause sentences with a temporal connective (before or after) in the sentence-medial or sentence-initial position. We obtained measures of individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and WM updating to test their contributions to comprehension. We measured the accuracy of children’s responses to the questions “What happened first?” (Experiment 1; N = 74) and “What happened last?” (Experiment 2; N = 50) as well as their sentence reading times. Together, these experiments show continued development of comprehension of temporal relations in children in upper elementary school and suggest that children’s comprehension difficulties (i.e., more comprehension errors and longer reading times) were influenced by clause salience and recency effects rather than sentence chronology or the familiarity of the connective. Our findings are consistent with a memory resource-limited account and suggest that individual differences in WM updating and WM capacity make dissociable contributions to processing and comprehension of sentences with temporal order information.

Description–experience gap under imperfect information

Purpose Capital project delivery, such as the delivery of transportation networks and industrial facilities, often suffers losses due to overly aggressive planning. Planners often are overly optimistic about the chance of success while underestimating risks. The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypothesis that these biases are from the difficulties most decision makers face when interpreting probabilistic information. Design/methodology/approach Three behavioral experiments were conducted to test the theoretical fitness of the paradigms proposed by the description–experience gap literature, namely, the sampling errors effect, the recency effect and statistical information format. College students were recruited to participate in a series of estimating tasks. And their estimating results were compared given different levels of information completeness. Findings It was found that the existing paradigms could predict risk decision making in the risk-averse estimating scenarios where test subjects were required to give a relatively conservative estimate, but they seemed to be less effective in predicting decisions in the risk-seeking estimating scenario, where test subjects were asked to give a relatively aggressive estimate. Originality/value Based on these findings, an integrative model is proposed to explain the observations pertaining to aggressive planning in capital projects. Two dimensions are deemed to be relevant: including risk-taking intentions, and an information uncertainty continuum that ranges from an implicit experience-based information representation to an explicit description-based information representation.

Calidad de respuesta y modo de administración del cuestionario

En este trabajo se lleva a cabo una comparación entre una encuesta presencial y otra telefónica a teléfonos fijos realizada en Andalucía utilizando dos muestras equivalentes. El cuestionario tiene preguntas de respuesta única con disposición vertical de las respuestas y preguntas de batería. En las primeras se compara la presencia de efectos de respuesta (primacía y recencia) y el número de respuestas “no sabe”. La encuesta telefónica presenta una menor falta de respuesta parcial y la presencia de un efecto recencia en preguntas con disposición vertical con 4 y 5 categorías. En las preguntas de batería se comprueba, además, si las encuestas telefónicas tienen un menor grado de diferenciación en las escalas, una mayor elección de respuestas extremas, así como una mayor aquiescencia. Este fenómeno se detecta en las preguntas de 5 y 10 categorías de respuesta, no detectando un efecto primacía en preguntas administradas con tarjeta.

Dissociative associative-memory deficit as a function of primacy and recency effects.

Studies designed to explore memory for single items versus paired items (i.e., associative memory) in young adults show inconsistent results. Some studies report a decrease in associative recognition and others report mild-to-moderate or even a null effect. The studies often do not take into account stimuli serial position (SSP) when analyzing the locus of associative accuracy. Studies testing SSP often target memory for items, while studies targeting associative memory decline as a function of SSP are lacking. The objective of the current study is to test the separate and joint effect of SSP (experiments 1 + 2) and presentation duration (experiment 2) on memory recognition for items versus associations. We hypothesized that greater associative decline (compared to the expected decline in memory for items with similar serial location) will be observed for the material located at the end of a learning list than the material located at the beginning of a learning list. The results of the two experiments converged and confirmed our hypotheses; the greatest associative deficit was observed for associative material located at the end of the learning list (experiments 1 + 2) and for material presented for short durations (experiment 2). The interaction between SSP and presentation duration did not reach significance; however, a direct estimation of the cumulative deficit of SSP and presentation duration confirmed our hypothesis regarding greater associative deficit for recently presented items for short durations. These results highlight the importance of the joint and separate, effect of SSP and presentation duration to the study of associative memory decline.