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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 30, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

The enduring effect of availability.

Krystin M Corby¹, Donald Homa

¹Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.

The American Journal of Psychology

|August 13, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Retrieval ease of autobiographical memories influences self-trait judgments, with effects persisting over time. However, simply recalling the number of memories retrieved can eliminate this influence.

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Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies

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Published on: May 9, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Social Psychology
Memory Research

Background:

The ease with which information is retrieved can influence judgments and decisions.
Autobiographical memory retrieval is a key component of self-perception and trait judgments.
Understanding the persistence of retrieval fluency effects is crucial for cognitive models.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the enduring impact of retrieval ease on self-trait judgments.
To examine whether delay affects the relationship between retrieval ease and trait ratings.
To determine if cognitive discounting instructions modulate the influence of retrieval ease.

Main Methods:

Participants retrieved autobiographical memories for specific traits under varying conditions (e.g., number of memories, delay).
Ease of retrieval and self-trait judgments were assessed immediately and after a one-week delay.
Experiment 2 introduced instructional manipulations to discount or augment retrieval ease.

Main Results:

An enduring effect of retrieval ease on self-trait ratings was observed, minimally affected by delay.
Reminding participants of their total number of recalled memories nullified the retrieval ease-trait rating relationship.
Instructions to discount or augment retrieval ease did not alter the observed effects.

Conclusions:

The influence of retrieval ease on self-trait judgments demonstrates persistence over time.
Metacognitive awareness of recall quantity, rather than manipulated retrieval fluency, can override this effect.
Findings contribute to understanding the heuristics and biases in self-judgment and memory.