Biomedical subjects

E L DeLosh

Publications and source records attributed to E L DeLosh.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2000

Order information and retrieval distinctiveness: recall of common versus bizarre material.

The order-encoding hypothesis (E. L. DeLosh & M. A. McDaniel, 1996) assumes that serial-order information contributes to the retrieval of list items and that serial-order encoding is better for common items than bizarre items. In line with this account, Experiment 1 revealed better free recall and serial-order memory for common than for bizarre items in pure lists, and Experiment 2 showed that recall for bizarre items increased and the recall advantage of common items was eliminated when serial-order encoding for bizarre items was increased to the level of common items. However, inconsistent with a second assumption that bizarre-item advantages in mixed lists reflect better individual-item encoding for bizarre items, Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the bizarreness effect in mixed lists is eliminated when alternative retrieval strategies are encouraged. This set of findings is better explained by the differential-retrieval-process framework, which proposes that contextual factors (e.g., list composition) influence the extent to which various types of information are used at retrieval, with the bizarreness advantage in mixed lists dependent on a distinctiveness-based retrieval process.

Cognition↗

PubMed1997

Extrapolation: the sine qua non for abstraction in function learning.

Abstraction was investigated by examining extrapolation behavior in a function-learning task. During training, participants associated stimulus and response magnitudes (in the form of horizontal bar lengths) that covaried according to a linear, exponential, or quadratic function. After training, novel stimulus magnitudes were presented as tests of extrapolation and interpolation. Participants extrapolated well beyond the range of learned responses, and their responses captured the general shape of the assigned functions, with some systematic deviations. Notable individual differences were observed, particularly in the quadratic condition. The number of unique stimulus-response pairs given during training (i.e., density) was also manipulated but did not affect training or transfer performance. Two rule-learning models, an associative-learning model, and a new hybrid model with associative learning and rule-based responding (extrapolation-association model [EXAM]) were evaluated with respect to the transfer data. EXAM best approximated the overall pattern of extrapolation performance.

Humans↗

PubMed1995

The bizarreness effect: it's not surprising, it's complex.

Higher recall of bizarre images relative to common images (the bizarreness effect) is consistently found when bizarreness is varied as a within-subject (mixed-list) variable. In Experiment 1, mixed lists, rather than the smaller number of bizarre sentences typically used in such lists, determined the occurrence of the bizarreness effect. Contrary to predictions from expectation-violation theory, Experiments 2 and 3 showed that manipulations designed to augment or attenuate surprise reactions to bizarre sentences had little impact on the bizarreness effect. Experiments 4 and 5 indicated that mixing affected the degree to which participants differentially encoded order information for bizarre and common items. A new account of the bizarreness effect is presented that combines considerations of distinctiveness with the differential use of order information across bizarre and common items.

Adult↗