ERIC Number: EJ1232772
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Nov
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
Adaptive Memory: The Mnemonic Power of Survival-Based Generation
Nairne, James S.; Coverdale, Michelle E.; Pandeirada, Josefa N. S.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v45 n11 p1970-1982 Nov 2019
Four experiments investigated the mnemonic effects of generating survival situations. People were given target words and asked to generate survival situations involving that stimulus (e.g., DOOR: "I'm in a house that's on fire, and I can escape through the door"). No constraints were placed on the generation process, other than that it must be survival-related and refer to the target stimulus. Following a series of these generation trials people were given a surprise retention test for the target words. Across four experiments the survival generation task produced significantly better retention than several deep processing controls including: (a) a pleasantness-rating task, (b) an autobiographical retrieval task, and (c) a task that required people to generate unusual uses for the target items. These results demonstrate the power of survival processing in a new way and provide diagnostic information about the proximate mechanisms that may underlie survival processing advantages. They also extend the generality of survival processing beyond the standard relevance-rating procedure that has been used in virtually all prior research.
Descriptors: Mnemonics, Recall (Psychology), Evolution, Retention (Psychology), Undergraduate Students, Vignettes, Introductory Courses, Experimental Psychology, Adjustment (to Environment), Stimuli, Imagination, Problem Solving
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Indiana
Grant or Contract Numbers: BCS1532345