Influences of dynamic and static retrieval cues on memory for events

Prior research on recognition memory has commonly used static cues (e.g., images) to evaluate familiarity-based item memory and recollection-based associative memory. Dynamic cues (e.g., videos) offer spatiotemporal information that may alter retrieval processes. In the present study, we examined how retrieval cue type (images vs. videos) and presentation duration affect memory accuracy and reaction times (RTs). Participants (N = 188) encoded video clips of actors performing actions. At retrieval, they viewed images or videos for a short (733 ms) or long (1,466 ms) duration. Test items included old (intact actor-action pairings) and conjunction (recombined actor-action pairings) items to evaluate associative memory, and new actor (unfamiliar actor, familiar action) and new action (familiar actor, unfamiliar action) items to assess item memory. Analyses of memory performance revealed that videos at retrieval facilitated the rejection of new action items, while simultaneously promoting a greater tendency to endorse new actor items compared to images. A hierarchical ex-Gaussian model indicated that short viewing durations at retrieval led to slower average RTs and increased the frequency of very long RTs, whereas static image cues were associated with greater RT variability and increased the prevalence of prolonged memory searches. Longer viewing durations reduced the occurrence of extended memory searches for associative decisions, particularly for conjunction items. Dynamic and static retrieval cues thus differentially influenced the familiarity of individual features of an event, whereas the associative binding of those features was primarily influenced by stimulus duration, regardless of whether those stimuli were static or dynamic.