Expectations can lead to prediction errors of varying degrees depending on the extent to which the information encountered in the environment conforms with prior knowledge. While there is strong evidence on the computationally specific effects of such prediction errors on learning, relatively less evidence is available regarding their effects on…

A key goal in cognitive training research is understanding whether cognitive training enhances general cognitive capacity or provides only task-specific improvements. Here, we developed a quantitative model for describing the temporal dynamics of these two processes. We analyzed data from 1300 children enrolled in an 8 week working memory training…

Converging evidence suggests that traditional domain-general working memory (WM) training does not have reliable far-transfer effects, but produces reliable, modest near-transfer effects on structurally similar untrained tasks. Given the critical role of WM in academic development, WM training that incorporates task-specific features may maximize…

Retrieval practice is a learning technique that is known to produce enhanced long-term memory retention when compared to several other techniques. This difference in learning outcome is commonly called "the testing effect". Yet there is little research on how individual differences in personality traits and working memory capacity…

People have difficulty sighting missing persons, partially because the task requires people's limited cognitive resources. We examined whether empathy increases search behaviors and performance. We manipulated empathy felt toward a formerly (E1) and actively (E2) missing person. We measured willingness to volunteer to search for missing people in…

Judges, jurors and other triers of fact often rely upon eyewitness evidence in criminal trials, but eyewitness memory is not always accurate and can sometimes be contaminated. The I-I-Eye is an evidence-based teaching aid designed to improve the evaluation of eyewitness evidence in legal settings. We aimed to further test the I-I-Eye and examine…

A suspect of a crime can avoid legal repercussions by creating a false alibi. We examined whether creating such a false alibi can have adverse effects on memory. To do so, participants watched a mock crime video and were either instructed to create a false alibi or to provide an honest account for what they actually saw in the video. After a 2-day…

Correct responding to questions regarding events that have occurred in the past are important for conversations and safety. Limited research has demonstrated techniques for teaching this skill to children who do not successfully tact past events. The current study demonstrates a probe-fading method for teaching children to correctly tact stimuli…

Event-based prospective memory (PM) tasks require individuals to remember to perform a previously planned action when they encounter a specific event. Often, the natural environments in which PM tasks occur are embedded are constantly changing, requiring humans to adapt by learning. We examine one such adaptation by integrating PM target learning…

Wakeful resting and listening to music are powerful means to modulate memory. How these activities affect memory when directly compared has not been tested so far. In two experiments, participants encoded and immediately recalled two word lists followed by either 6 min wakefully resting or 6 min listening to music. The results of Experiment 1 show…

Memory retrieval affects subsequent memory in ways both positive (e.g., the testing effect) and negative (e.g., retrieval-induced forgetting, RIF). The changes to memory that retrieval produces can be thought of as the encoding consequences of retrieval, examined here with respect to attention. In three experiments, participants first studied…

This essay documents my expansions on a lesson developed in courses that juxtaposed performance and memory studies. Building on a recursive reading of Toni Morrison's literary conceptualisation of rememory, I describe the reiterative nature of memory using two digital performances -- a TikTok meme featuring 50 Cent's 'Candy Shop' and a Reddit…

Perception is driven not only by current stimulation but also by previous sensory experience, which may serve as a perceptual prior for stimulus processing. A possible mechanism underlying this phenomenon is formalized in the internal reference model, which assumes that humans rely on an internal reference that updates continuously by integrating…

The present article provides a descriptive review of the studies conducted by eight memory researchers who empirically investigated their own autobiographical memory. They are Francis Galton, Madorah Smith, Marigold Linton, Willem Wagenaar, Steen Larsen, Dorthe Berntsen, Alan Baddeley and Richard White. These authors assessed their ability to…

Prospective memory involves setting an intention to act that is maintained over time and executed when appropriate. Slow wave sleep (SWS) has been implicated in maintaining prospective memories, although which SWS oscillations most benefit this memory type remains unclear. Here, we investigated SWS spectral power correlates of prospective memory.…