The Contiguity Effect in The Probed Recall Task: Enhanced Encoding and Event Segmentation

Date

2024-12-25

Author

Ekiz, Karya İlkim

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In recall, the contiguity effect is the finding that when an item is recalled, the next item to be recalled is inclined to come from close study positions to the position of the just recalled item. It is observed with a forward asymmetry and for long time scales. There are two classes of models that can account for the contiguity effect. Causal models suggest that when an item is recalled, it cues nearby items either due to between-item associations or associations formed through a drifting temporal context. According to the non-causal models, the replay of study context during the test leads to the contiguity effect. The novel probed recall task is utilized to differentiate between two classes of models. Previous studies on the probed recall task observed a contiguity effect but not the forward asymmetry, which was attributed to low recall performance. In the current study, the probed recall task was optimized with two approaches: Enhanced encoding of study items by a sentence generation task (Experiment 1) and event segmentation or internal context shift by introducing imagine questions between study lists (Experiment 2). Results did not yield a forward asymmetry, which could be attributed to the performance, or to the possibility that eliminating the non-causal mechanisms causes a symmetric contiguity effect. Across two experiments, both short-term contiguity and a long-term contiguity effect were observed, providing support to the causal models.

Subject Keywords

Contiguity Effect, Memory Models, Probed Recall Task, Recall, Context

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/112946

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis