Accuracy and completeness of autobiographical memory: evidence from a wearable camera study.

A small wearable camera, SenseCam, passively captured pictures from everyday experience that were later used to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of autobiographical memory. Nine undergraduates wore SenseCams that took pictures every 10 s for two days. After one week and one month, participants first recalled their experiences from specific time periods (timeslices), then reviewed the corresponding pictures to make corrections and report information omitted from initial recall.

Demystifying omega squared: Practical guidance for effect size in common analysis of variance designs.

Omega squared (ω^2) is a measure of effect size for analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. It is less biased than eta squared, but reported less often. This is in part due to lack of clear guidance on how to calculate it.

Strategic use of internal and external memory in everyday life: episodic, semantic, procedural, and prospective purposes.

Humans have access to both internal memory (information stored in the brain) and external memory (information stored in the environment). To what extent do we use each in everyday life? In two experiments, participants rated both internal and external memory for frequency of use, dependability, ease of use (Experiment 1), and likelihood of use (Experiment 2) across four purposes: episodic, semantic, procedural, and prospective. Experiment 1 showed that internal memory was favoured for episodic and procedural purposes, while external memory was favoured for semantic purposes.

What characteristics make self-generated memory cues effective over time?

From writing to-do lists to creating mnemonic devices in school, people frequently generate cues to help them remember information. Creating memory cues is a vital aspect of metacognition and allows learners to somewhat control their retrieval circumstances. Across three experiments, we tested the extent to which self-generated memory cues fail at long retention intervals because they are based in fleeting mental states.

Identifying the guilty word: Simultaneous versus sequential lineups for DRM word lists.

Recent research in the eyewitness identification literature has investigated whether simultaneous or sequential lineups yield better discriminability. In standard eyewitness identification experiments, subjects view a mock-crime video and then are tested only once, requiring large samples for adequate power. However, there is no reason why theories of simultaneous versus sequential lineup performance cannot be tested using more traditional recognition memory tasks.

Benefits from retrieval practice are greater for students with lower working memory capacity.

We examined the effects of retrieval practice for students who varied in working memory capacity as a function of the lag between study of material and its initial test, whether or not feedback was given after the test, and the retention interval of the final test. We sought to determine whether a blend of these conditions exists that maximises benefits from retrieval practice for lower and higher working memory capacity students. College students learned general knowledge facts and then restudied the facts or were tested on them (with or without feedback) at lags of 0-9 intervening items.

Simultaneous Versus Sequential Presentation in Testing Recognition Memory for Faces.

Three experiments examined the issue of whether faces could be better recognized in a simul- taneous test format (2-alternative forced choice [2AFC]) or a sequential test format (yes-no). All experiments showed that when target faces were present in the test, the simultaneous procedure led to superior performance (area under the ROC curve), whether lures were high or low in similarity to the targets. However, when a target-absent condition was used in which no lures resembled the targets but the lures were similar to each other, the simultaneous procedure yielded higher false alarm rates (Experiments 2 and 3) and worse overall performance (Experi- ment 3).

Metacognition of multitasking: How well do we predict the costs of divided attention?

Risky multitasking, such as texting while driving, may occur because people misestimate the costs of divided attention. In two experiments, participants performed a computerized visual-manual tracking task in which they attempted to keep a mouse cursor within a small target that moved erratically around a circular track. They then separately performed an auditory n-back task.

Metacognition of the testing effect: guiding learners to predict the benefits of retrieval.

If the mnemonic benefits of testing are to be widely realized in real-world learning circumstances, people must appreciate the value of testing and choose to utilize testing during self-guided learning. Yet metacognitive judgments do not appear to reflect the enhancement provided by testing Karpicke & Roediger (Science 319:966-968, 2008). In this article, we show that under judicious conditions, learners can indeed reveal an understanding of the beneficial effects of testing, as well as the interaction of that effect with delay (experiment 1).

Adaptive and qualitative changes in encoding strategy with experience: evidence from the test-expectancy paradigm.

Three experiments demonstrated learners' abilities to adaptively and qualitatively accommodate their encoding strategies to the demands of an upcoming test. Stimuli were word pairs. In Experiment 1, test expectancy was induced for either cued recall (of targets given cues) or free recall (of targets only) across 4 study-test cycles of the same test format, followed by a final critical cycle featuring either the expected or the unexpected test format.

Benefits of Accumulating Versus Diminishing Cues in Recall.

Optimizing learning over multiple retrieval opportunities requires a joint consideration of both the probability and the mnemonic value of a successful retrieval. Previous research has addressed this trade-off by manipulating the schedule of practice trials, suggesting that a pattern of increasingly long lags-"expanding retrieval practice"-may keep retrievals successful while gradually increasing their mnemonic value (Landauer & Bjork, 1978). Here we explore the trade-off issue further using an analogous manipulation of cue informativeness.

The effects of end-of-day picture review and a sensor-based picture capture procedure on autobiographical memory using SenseCam.

Emerging "life-logging" technologies have tremendous potential to augment human autobiographical memory by recording and processing vast amounts of information from an individual's experiences. In this experiment undergraduate participants wore a SenseCam, a small, sensor-equipped digital camera, as they went about their normal daily activities for five consecutive days. Pictures were captured either at fixed intervals or as triggered by SenseCam's sensors.