Context specificity of automatic influences of memory. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • It has often been shown that intentional recollection is influenced by context manipulations, such as context reinstatement (e.g., Smith, 2013; Smith & Vela, 2001), but whether or not automatic retrieval (e.g., Jacoby, 1991) is likewise context dependent remains an open question. Here, we present two experiments that examined effects of context manipulations on indirect measures of memory. The first experiment tested anagram completion, and the second experiment used word fragment completion to test effects of context reinstatement; both experiments found reinstatement effects. To address potential problems of explicit contamination, we also asked participants if they were aware of the priming manipulations. Separating participants according to their test awareness showed effects of context manipulations for both aware and unaware participants. A greater effect size was found for aware participants only in Experiment 1, in which participants had enough time on each test trial for recollection to be used. We conclude that context reinstatement does affect automatic retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

published proceedings

  • J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn

author list (cited authors)

  • Smith, S. M., Handy, J. D., Hernandez, A., & Jacoby, L. L.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • Smith, Steven M||Handy, Justin D||Hernandez, Alan||Jacoby, Larry L

publication date

  • October 2018