Subjective reports of remembering Practical Methods 2 C82 MPR Dr Richard J. Tunney Room:

Aims & Objectives Formulate a theory driven hypothesis Design an Experiment to test your hypothesis –Construct stimuli –Write a program in EPrime Conduct the experiment –Recruit and test participants –Debrief participants Analyse the results –Using a combination of EXCEL and SPSS Write a formal paper detailing the experiment –Introduce the theory and how that leads to the hypothesis –Describe the experimental method –Report statistics –Review the results of the experiment in terms of the theory stated at the outset

An experiment… Logon on to ‘Spsych’ Open the folder called ‘Richard Tunney’s lab classes’ Group 1 will open the folder called ‘rajaram RKG’ –Copy the folder to your desktop –Double click on the icon called “rajaram RKG E-Studio Experiment File” Group 2 will open the folder called ‘rajaram binary conf’ –Copy the folder to your desktop –Double click on the icon called “rajaram binary conf E-Studio Experiment File” Press F7 to run the experiment Enter a subject number and a session number (I’ll give you these). Follow the instructions STOP AND WAIT WHEN YOU GET TO THE SECOND SET OF INSTRUCTIONS.

Schedule WEEK 1.A short lecture introducing subjective reports of remembering, overview of previous research, and description of writing EPrime experiments. Teams are formed and the groups should go to the library to identify new topics to explore. 2.Teams present idea for project to instructor. EPrime programming and pilot testing of paradigm. 3.Present pilot data and begin testing participants in experiments. 4.Analyze data. 5.Each team presents their findings to the rest of the class. 6.Project reports due in the school office. TUTORS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO LOOK AT DRAFT REPORTS. ALL REPORTS ARE WRITTEN INDIVIDUALLY.

Introduction to EPrime What is EPrime? –An experiment generator used to present images or text on a computer screen that an experimental participant can respond to. –A Graphical User Interface (GUI) for an Event Based Programming language (Basic). This means you don’t have to learn the language. Programs in the E-Prime package –E-Studio. The program used to design your experiment. The output is an E-Basic script. –E-Run. The program used to run your experiment. E-Run compiles and runs E-Basic scripts. It also contains an editor for modifying scripts. –E-Merge. A program for combining several data files into one data file. –E-DataAid. The program used to view and filter (ie. select parts of) the data files you get from E-Run, and export the data (eg. for analysis by a program such as SPSS).

EPrime: A four stage process Design the experiment using the graphical tools of E-Studio. While you are developing the experiment, you can save the design as an E-Studio file. (This has the experiment name with a.es extension. The icon is a pile of green blocks). When the design is complete, generate an E-Basic script file for it. (This has the experiment name with a.ebs extension. The icon is a purple running figure). Run your experiment using E-Run. Note: while you are developing the script in E-Studio, you can run it there too to test it. But when it is complete and working it is best to generate the script and run that in E- Run. Merge data files using E-Merge. In E-Merge you combine the data files for each for your subjects into a single data file. Filter and export your data using E-DataAid. In E-DataAid you select parts of the data and export it to an analysis program such as SPSS.

Starting a new experiment First create a folder for your work. Open a blank experiment in E-Studio. Click Save As (choose a name for your experiment, and save it in your folder). While developing an experiment in E-Studio, be sure to click Save at regular intervals. This ensures that your work is not completely lost if the program crashes for whatever reason. To be really safe you also want to make a backup copy on a memory stick. To give you an idea of how EPrime can be used to create experiments of the kind outlined earlier you can copy some samples from the class share folder. Please don’t alter them. You don’t need to spend hours getting to know EPrime or working on your program so long as it works correctly. NOW RETURN TO THE EXPERIMENT

The structure and organisation of episodic memory Current theories of episodic memory suggest that it is composed of multiple processes at both the cognitive and neurological levels. From Squire & Zola (1996)

The structure and organisation of recognition memory A predominant theory suggests that recognition is composed of two separate processes namely recollection and familiarity. RecollectionFamiliarity Encodes contextDoes not encode context Threshold retrieval processRetrieval varies with ‘memory strength’ Is degraded in amnesiaIs relatively preserved in amnesia Cannot be manipulatedCan be manipulated Feeling of rememberingFeeling of knowing The distinction between recollection and familiarity looks similar to the distinction between explicit and implicit memory. This is false. Both are conscious states. It is these conscious states that allow us to examine the structure of recognition in the laboratory with recourse to expensive techniques such as brain scanners.

Subjective reports of remembering Tulving (1985) first suggested that memory processes could be examined by asking subjects to introspect on their conscious states at the time of remembering. Evidence that these responses reflect underlying memory processes come from dissociations between the probabilities of remember and know responses. That is, an experimental variable affects one response but not the other. Variables that increase probability of remembering Levels of processing (Gardiner, 1988) Intentional learning (Gardiner, 1988) Short retention interval (Knowlton & Squire, 1995) Variables that increase probability of knowing Revelation effect (LeCompte, 1995) Priming (Rajaram, 1993) Non-word vs word presentation (Gardiner & Java, 1990)

How does the experience of remembering change over time?

Is the experience of remembering just confidence? Critics of the remember-know procedure argue that subjective reports are really just confidence ratings rather indicators of than separate memory processes. –Recollection = high confidence –Familiarity = low confidence While it is true that know judgements should vary with confidence or memory strength, remember judgments according to proponents of the theory, are based on a threshold retrieval process. We’ve just replicated two classic experiments by Rajaram (1993). She reasoned that manipulating memory strength by priming should increase the proportion of know responses but should have no such effect on remember responses. By contrast when we replace remember-know categories with confidence priming should affect both, equally. Rajaram, S. (1993). Remembering and Knowing: Two means of access to the personal past. Memory & Cognition, 21,

Is the experience of remembering just confidence? **

Is the experience of remembering just confidence? **

Subjective reports of remembering Week 2 Practical Methods 2 C82 MPR Dr Richard J. Tunney Room:

Results

ANALYSIS OF LURES BY T-TEST: –Proportion of remember responses for related and unrelated primes: t(22) = -1.01, sd =.07, p =.33 –Proportion of know responses for related and unrelated primes: t(22) = 2.19, sd =.06, p =.04 –Proportion of sure responses for related and unrelated primes: t(22) = -1.49, sd =.05, p =.15 –Proportion of unsure responses for related and unrelated primes: t(22) = 1.98, sd =.07, p =.06

Stimuli for your experiment Use the MRC Psycholinguistic database to create your stimuli. Use the MRC Psycholinguistic database ( to create your stimuli. Remember to control for extraneous variables know to affect recognition e.g.: –Word length –Word frequency –Concreteness –Familiarity All your items should be nouns.