Item and Associative Memory for Different Negative Information

OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) · 2026-05-21

Item and Associative Memory for Different Negative Information

Open MIND · 2026-01-01

Expectation-[in]congruence differentially impacts recall and recognition of object features

Memory & Cognition · 2025-06-10 · 1 citations

Study events that are congruent with our prior expectations are better remembered than expectation-unrelated events. Paradoxically, events that are highly incongruent with expectations are also better remembered. In this study, we explore whether this paradoxical finding persists in object featural memory. Specifically, we examine whether memory for expectation-congruent and incongruent features of objects is differentially impacted by the processes that underlie recall and recognition and the types of information being probed. In three experiments, we manipulated the degree to which object features adhered to people's prior expectations (i.e., colors of objects) and then assessed memory (recall and recognition) for expectation-relevant features (i.e., object-color) and expectation-irrelevant features (i.e., object-shape). While both expectation-congruent and incongruent features were equally well recognized, only expectation-congruent features were better recalled compared to expectation-unrelated features. Furthermore, only strong expectation-congruence created a memory advantage for expectation-irrelevant object features. These findings suggest that in object featural memory, expectation-congruence and incongruence are qualitatively dissociable in their impact on recognition and recall processes. The findings from this work have important implications for cognitive and neuroscientific theories of how prior expectations shape the representation of objects and their constituent features in episodic memory.

Investigating the colour bizarreness effect in long-term memory

Memory · 2025-11-07

memory and whether this feature memory persists long-term. Using a 4-Alternative recognition task, we assessed memory for object colours as a function of expectation-congruence immediately following study and three days later. Results of Study 1 revealed no significant difference in recognition memory for bizarre compared to expectation-congruent colours, and no enhanced memory for bizarre colours in long-term memory. In Study 2, we found that an encoding task requiring participants to activate their prior expectations during study did not promote greater retention of bizarre object features. Instead, the results across both studies revealed a long-term memory advantage for expectation-congruent items. These findings highlight conditions where the enhanced memory for bizarre information is limited, providing an interesting challenge to current mechanistic accounts of memory for expectation-related information.

Strengthening Connections: Differentiating the Role of Encoding Context on Object-Feature Representations

SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

From silos to synergy: Integrating approaches to investigate the role of prior knowledge and expectations on episodic memory

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · 2024-05-01 · 4 citations

Significant progress in the investigation of how prior knowledge influences episodic memory has been made using three sometimes isolated (but not mutually exclusive) approaches: strictly adult behavioral investigations, computational models, and investigations into the development of the system. Here we point out that these approaches are complementary, each approach informs and is informed by the other. Thus, a natural next step for research is to combine all three approaches to further our understanding of the role of prior knowledge in episodic memory. Here we use studies of memory for expectation-congruent and incongruent information from each of these often disparate approaches to illustrate how combining approaches can be used to test and revise theories from the other. This domain is particularly advantageous because it highlights important features of more general memory processes, further differentiates models of memory, and can shed light on developmental change in the memory system. We then present a case study to illustrate the progress that can be made from integrating all three approaches and highlight the need for more endeavors in this vein. As a first step, we also propose a new computational model of memory that takes into account behavioral and developmental factors that can influence prior knowledge and episodic memory interactions. This integrated approach has great potential for offering novel insights into the relationship between prior knowledge and episodic memory, and cognition more broadly.

The influence of functional components of natural scenes on episodic memory

Scientific Reports · 2024 · 1 citations

• Computer Science
• Computer Science
• Cognitive science

Prior expectation for the structure of natural scenes is perhaps the most influential contributor to episodic memory for objects in scenes. While the influence of functional components of natural scenes on scene perception and visual search has been well studied, far less is known about the independent contributions of these components to episodic memory. In this investigation, we systematically removed three functional components of natural scenes: global-background, local spatial, and local associative information, to evaluate their impact on episodic memory. Results revealed that [partially] removing the global-background negatively impacted recall accuracy following short encoding times but had relatively little impact on memory after longer times. In contrast, systematically removing local spatial and associative relationships of scene objects negatively impacted recall accuracy following short and longer encoding times. These findings suggest that scene background, object spatial arrangements, and object relationships facilitate not only scene perception and object recognition, but also episodic memory. Interestingly, the impact of these components depends on how much encoding time is available to store information in episodic memory. This work has important implications for understanding how the inherent structure and function of the natural world interacts with memory and cognition in naturalistic contexts.

Learning Multimodal Cues of Children's Uncertainty

arXiv (Cornell University) · 2024-10-17

Understanding uncertainty plays a critical role in achieving common ground (Clark et al.,1983). This is especially important for multimodal AI systems that collaborate with users to solve a problem or guide the user through a challenging concept. In this work, for the first time, we present a dataset annotated in collaboration with developmental and cognitive psychologists for the purpose of studying nonverbal cues of uncertainty. We then present an analysis of the data, studying different roles of uncertainty and its relationship with task difficulty and performance. Lastly, we present a multimodal machine learning model that can predict uncertainty given a real-time video clip of a participant, which we find improves upon a baseline multimodal transformer model. This work informs research on cognitive coordination between human-human and human-AI and has broad implications for gesture understanding and generation. The anonymized version of our data and code will be publicly available upon the completion of the required consent forms and data sheets.

Learning Multimodal Cues of Children’s Uncertainty

2023-01-01

Qi Cheng, Mert Inan, Rahma Mbarki, Grace Grmek, Theresa Choi, Yiming Sun, Kimele Persaud, Jenny Wang, Malihe Alikhani. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Meeting of the Special Interest Group on Discourse and Dialogue. 2023.

Dissociating the Impact of Object-Color Expectations and Object-Color Violations on Visual Feature Memory

Journal of Vision · 2022-12-05

Study events that are consistent with our prior expectations are often better remembered than expectation-unrelated events. Paradoxically, events that violate our expectations are also better remembered. What remains unclear is whether visual memory for expectation-consistent and expectation-violating events are supported by qualitatively different processes. Here we explore whether visual memory for expectation-related events are differentially impacted by mechanisms that underlie recognition and recall processes. We further assessed how the degree of expectation-consistency impacts memory for other features of study events. Across four experiments, we manipulated the degree to which study events adhered to people’s prior expectations (i.e., the color of objects) and then assessed memory (recall and recognition) for expectation-relevant features (i.e., object-color) and expectation-irrelevant features (object-shape). We propose an account that allows for competing mechanisms in memory encoding, storage, and retrieval, helping to explain the paradox in prior studies. Since recognition memory is backed by efficient encoding and storage processes, expectation-consistent events are better recognized because noise in the system is biased towards category expectations in storage. Expectation-violating events are better recognized because expectation-violating events lead to more resources spent on encoding all features of the study event. In contrast, recall is backed by boosted encoding and memory search processes for retrieving stored events, which are also biased toward expectations. Thus, expectation-consistent events are boosted in recall, but not expectation-violating events. Across experiments, we find evidence supporting both the “boosted encoding/storage” and “memory search” mechanisms. Expectation-consistent events were better recognized and recalled, while expectation-violating events were better recognized. Also, the advantage of expectation-violation, but not expectation-consistency, extended to memory for expectation-irrelevant features of the study event. These findings suggest that expectation-consistent and expectation-violating information are qualitatively dissociable in their impact on recognition and recall processes as well as their influence on memory for expectation-irrelevant features of study events.