Gaze dynamics are sensitive to target orienting for working memory encoding in virtual reality.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that visuospatial attention is a requirement for successful working memory encoding. It is unknown, however, whether this established relationship manifests in consistent gaze dynamics as people orient their visuospatial attention toward an encoding target when searching for information in naturalistic environments. To test this hypothesis, participants' eye movements were recorded while they searched for and encoded objects in a virtual apartment (Experiment 1).

Continuous decoding of cognitive load from electroencephalography reveals task-general and task-specific correlates.

Objective: Algorithms to detect changes in cognitive load using non-invasive biosensors (e.g. electroencephalography (EEG)) have the potential to improve human-computer interactions by adapting systems to an individual's current information processing capacity, which may enhance performance and mitigate costly errors.

Drawing improves memory: The importance of multimodal encoding context.

Memory is critical to the human experience, and more than a century of empirical work has been devoted to understanding its function and various means by which it can be strengthened. This literature has uncovered a long list of encoding techniques that reliably improve memory and yet little is known about the driving cognitive processes that are common to these techniques. To better understand how these diverse encoding techniques might enhance memory, we examine the mnemonic benefits of drawing, along with several related encoding techniques.

Neural reactivation in parietal cortex enhances memory for episodically linked information.

Remembering is a complex process that involves recalling specific details, such as who you were with when you celebrated your last birthday, as well as contextual information, such as the place where you celebrated. It is well established that the act of remembering enhances long-term retention of the retrieved information, but the neural and cognitive mechanisms that drive memory enhancement are not yet understood. One possibility is that the process of remembering results in reactivation of the broader episodic context.

Drawing enhances item information but undermines sequence information in memory.

Drawing a picture of the referent of a word produces considerably better recall and recognition of that word than does a baseline condition, such as repeatedly writing the word, a phenomenon referred to as the drawing effect. Although the drawing effect has been the focus of much recent research, it is not yet clear what underlies the beneficial effects of drawing to memory. In 3 experiments, we explored the roles of item and order information following drawing versus silent reading and produced 2 important findings.

Two sources of information in reconstructing event sequence.

Reconstructing memory for sequences is a complex process, likely involving multiple sources of information. In 3 experiments, we examined the source(s) of information that might underlie the ability to accurately place an event within a temporal context. The task was to estimate, after studying each list, the temporal position of a single test word within that list.

Not all order memory is equal: Test demands reveal dissociations in memory for sequence information.

Remembering the order of a sequence of events is a fundamental feature of episodic memory. Indeed, a number of formal models represent temporal context as part of the memory system, and memory for order has been researched extensively. Yet, the nature of the code(s) underlying sequence memory is still relatively unknown.

Individual differences in incorrect responding and the ability to discriminate the source of the products of retrieval.

When memory is tested, researchers are often interested in the items that were correctly recalled or recognized, while ignoring or factoring out trials where one "recalls" or "recognizes" a nonstudied item. However, intrusions and false alarms are more than nuisance data and can provide key insights into the memory system. The present article reports 2 experiments demonstrating that people are remarkably consistent in the rate at which they incorrectly report memory for nonstudied items, even across a range of differing stimuli and test features.

Can research participants comment authoritatively on the validity of their self-reports of mind wandering and task engagement?

The study of mind wandering rests upon the assumption that people are able to consistently and accurately introspect and report on these sorts of mental experiences. Although there is some initial evidence that people can indeed accurately report on the subjective experience of mind wandering, to date, no work has directly examined people's degree of confidence in their self-reports of mind wandering and the effects that confidence has on the accuracy of such reports. In the present study, participants completed a sustained-attention task during which they intermittently provided assessments of task engagement (i.

Disruption of relational processing underlies poor memory for order.

McDaniel and Bugg (2008) proposed that relatively uncommon stimuli and encoding tasks encourage elaborative encoding of individual items (item-specific processing), whereas relatively typical or common encoding tasks encourage encoding of associations among list items (relational processing). It is this relational processing that is thought to result in better memory for the serial order of a study list. We report 4 experiments examining memory for order demonstrating that (a) both semantic and orthographic tasks can impair memory for order when performed on individual items, (b) item-specific processing is not necessary for impairment because even an item-generic key press task harms memory for order, (c) impaired memory for order is due primarily to distraction during the processing of an item rather than between list items, and (d) even an unusual processing task will preserve memory for order as long as that task encourages the encoding of item-to-item relations.

Putting retrieval-induced forgetting in context: an inhibition-free, context-based account.

We present a new theoretical account of retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) together with new experimental evidence that fits this account and challenges the dominant inhibition account. RIF occurs when the retrieval of some material from memory produces later forgetting of related material. The inhibition account asserts that RIF is the result of an inhibition mechanism that acts during retrieval to suppress the representations of interfering competitors.

Testing the item-order account of design effects using the production effect.

A number of memory phenomena evident in recall in within-subject, mixed-lists designs are reduced or eliminated in between-subject, pure-list designs. The item-order account (McDaniel & Bugg, 2008) proposes that differential retention of order information might underlie this pattern. According to this account, order information may be encoded when a common form of processing is used alone in a list (e.

Performance reactivity in a continuous-performance task: implications for understanding post-error behavior.

Although there has been considerable interest in the effects of errors on subsequent performance, relatively few studies have considered the effects of non-error events that contain some performance-relevant information, such as correct performance on critical trials. In the present article, we propose and assess a hypothesis of performance reactivity. In support of this hypothesis, we provide evidence of performance decrements following both incorrect and correct responses but not following performance-irrelevant events.

Enhancing SART Validity by Statistically Controlling Speed-Accuracy Trade-Offs.

Numerous studies focused on elucidating the correlates, causes, and consequences of inattention/attention-lapses employ the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART), a GO-NOGO task with infrequent withholds. Although the SART has become popular among inattention researchers, recent work has demonstrated its susceptibility to speed-accuracy trade-offs (SATOs), rendering its assessment of inattention problematic. Here, we propose and illustrate methods to statistically control for the occurrence of SATOs during SART performance.

Production improves memory equivalently following elaborative vs non-elaborative processing.

Words that are read aloud are better remembered than those read silently. Recent research has suggested that, rather than reflecting a benefit for produced items, this production effect may reflect a cost to reading silently in a list containing both aloud and silent items (Bodner, Taikh, & Fawcett, 2013). This cost is argued to occur because silent items are lazily read, receiving less attention than aloud items which require an overt response.

A methodological note on evaluating performance in a sustained-attention-to-response task.

We evaluated the influence of speed-accuracy trade-offs on performance in the sustained attention to response task (SART), a task often used to evaluate the effectiveness of techniques designed to improve sustained attention. In the present study, we experimentally manipulated response delay in a variation of the SART and found that commission errors, which are commonly used as an index of lapses in sustained attention, were a systematic function of manipulated differences in response delay. Delaying responses to roughly 800 ms after stimulus onset reduced commission errors substantially.

Less we forget: retrieval cues and release from retrieval-induced forgetting.

Retrieving some items from memory can impair the subsequent recall of other related but not retrieved items, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). The dominant explanation of RIF-the inhibition account-asserts that forgetting occurs because related items are suppressed during retrieval practice to reduce retrieval competition. This item inhibition persists, making it more difficult to recall the related items on a later test.

Retrieval-induced forgetting: testing the competition assumption of inhibition theory.

Practicing the retrieval of some information can lead to poorer retrieval of other related information, a phenomenon called retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF). This pattern has been explained as the result of inhibition of the related information during practice (Anderson, 2003). A core assumption of this inhibition account is that, to be suppressed, the related information must compete with the target information at the time of retrieval practice.