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Working Memory Training for Older Participants: A Control Group Training Regimen and Initial Intellectual Functioning Assessment
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Memory for questions and amount of processing.

P N Johnson-Laird1, C E Bethell-Fox

  • 1Centre for Research on Perception and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex, BN1 9QG, Brighton, Sussex, England.

Memory & Cognition
|November 9, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Questions about events that did not happen are harder to remember. This study on memory and question recall found that less processing leads to poorer memory for unrealized events.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Memory Studies
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

  • Understanding how people remember information is crucial for various fields.
  • Prior research suggests memory recall is influenced by how information is processed.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the memorability of questions based on the nature of the event they describe.
  • To test the hypothesis that questions about non-existent events are less memorable due to reduced cognitive processing.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted where subjects watched events and answered questions about them.
  • Questions were designed to elicit 'yes,' 'no' (alternative location), or 'no' (non-existent event) answers.
  • Recall of questions was tested unexpectedly after answering.

Main Results:

  • Questions about events that did not occur were found to be significantly less memorable.
  • Experiment 2 confirmed this finding by showing poor recall even when questions were not answered, ruling out event recall as a confounding factor.
  • The difference in memorability persisted regardless of whether questions were answered.

Conclusions:

  • Cognitive processing depth significantly impacts memory recall for questions.
  • Questions concerning non-existent events are processed less, leading to diminished memory for them.
  • This has implications for understanding memory, question design, and information retrieval.