Effects on memory of early testing and accuracy assessment for central and contextual content

ABSTRACT

Memory for an event is influenced by many factors including retention interval, frequency of assessment, and type of information assessed concerning the event. We examined the usefulness of observer memory for contextual information in assessing accuracy of memory for central information. Participants viewed a video of a purse being stolen and were asked questions concerning the perpetrator and surrounding context of the event, including where and when the event occurred and who else was present. Participants tested immediately after seeing the video exhibited better memory than those tested for the first time 48 hours after the event. Additionally, testing immediately after viewing the video reduced forgetting over the 48-hour delay (i.e. early testing attenuated subsequent forgetting). Moreover, memory for the context of the event correlated positively with memory of the central information (i.e. perpetrator), and memory concerning other people at the event tended to have the highest correlation with perpetrator memory.

KEYWORDS:

• Context
• preventing forgetting
• central information
• peripheral information
• repeated testing

Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by NIMH grant 33881. We would like to thank Alaina S. Berruti, Zekiel Z. Factor, Jeff J. Joseph, Audrey Li, and Patty Li for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The video, raw data, data analyses, and computer program (in eprime3 titled “EW Real Perception Experiment 1.esb2” and “EW Real Perception Experiment 1.es2”) are available at doi.org/10.22191/orb/rrmiller/lab/1 and upon request from the first (JW) and last (RM) authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health [grant number MH033881].