|
2003 > |
Course
Description |
Remembering. The role of item-specific
and relational information
Johannes Engelkamp
University of the Saarland
Saarbruecken, Germany
The course deals with episodic memory, i.e. with our ability to recall and recognize past events. The distinction between item-specific and relational
information has proved to be useful in explaining these performances.
Item-specific information refers to information which is specific for an
individual item event, relational information refers to associations among item
events. To give an example, imagine you try to remember whom you saw on a party
last weekend. Names of people may come to your mind. Associations between the people are assumed to determine what
names come to your mind. These associations are relational information. There
may be names coming to your mind of which you are not sure whether you met the
persons on the party. In such a case, you may try to remember some specific cues
of such a person, for example you may remember that she/he drank mineral water
what is untypical for her/him. This is item-specific information which may
allow you to decide that you saw him indeed on the party.
The global aim of the course will
be to examine how far this dichotomy can help to explain episodic memory
performances, where extensions of this approach are necessary, and in
particular whether item-specific and relational information must be
differentiated with regard to memory subsystems in which these types of
information are processed.
The course will start with a brief
summary of the emergence of this dichotomy in memory research and of the role
of both types of information in recall and recognition memory tests. It follows
the discussion whether one type of item-specific and of relational information
is sufficient or whether subdifferentiations are necessary. The main part of
the course will deal with the question whether one needs to take into account
in which subsystems the processing of item-specific and relational information
takes place if one wants to explain memory performances. In this context, I
will discuss in particular the necessity to distinguish between perceptual
entry systems, a conceptual system, and motor output systems for explaining
memory phenomena.
1.
Item-specific and relational
information under a historical perspective.
Required
Readings:
Hunt, R.R. & Einstein, G.O.
(1981). Relational
and item-specific information in memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and
Verbal Behavior, 20, 497-514.
2.
Is one
type of item-specific and relational information
sufficient?
·
Two-process
theories of recognition
·
Meaning- vs.
order-based relational information
·
Relational
information in paired-associate learning.
Required
Readings:
Klein, S.B., Loftus, J.,
Kihlstrom, J.F. & Aseron, R. (1989). Effects
of item-specific and relational information on hypermnesia recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 15, 1192-1197.
Serra, M. & Nairne,
J.S. (1993). Design
controversies and the generation effect: Support for an item-order hypothesis.
Memory & Cognition, 21, 34-40.
3.1
The
necessity of a multi-system account
·
The multi-modal memory approach
·
Input systems, conceptual system,
output systems
·
Item-specific and relational information within the different
systems
Required Reading:
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H.D. (1994). The human memory. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber,
Chapter 2
3.2
Item-specific
and relational information
in memory for pictures
Required Reading:
Zimmer, H.D. (1995). Size
and orientation of objects in explicit and ic memory: A reversal of the
dissociation between perceptual similarity and type of test. Psychological
Research, 57, 260-273.
3.3
Item-specific and relational
information in memory
for actions
Required Reading:
Bäckman, L.,
Nilsson, L.G. & Chalom, D. (1986). New evidence of the encoding of action
events. Memory & Cognition, 14, 339-346.
Small groups
They serve to deepen the main topics of the
course and to discuss selected papers in detail. The main goal of the
discussion will be to consider how theoretical constructs are experimentally
tested, what conclusion can be drawn from the findings,
and whether further experiments
seem desirable and how they could be conceived.
A participant who
wishes to get credits for the course should write a paper on a topic selected
by consultations with the lecturer or take part in an oral examination.
1. Item-specific and relational information in the multimodal
approach
Required Reading
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H.D. (1994). The Human
memory. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber, Chapter 2
2. Bizarreness and re-enactment in recognition
memory of action
phrases
Required Readings:
Engelkamp, J., Zimmer, H.D. &
Biegelmann, U. (1993). Bizarreness effects
in verbal tasks and subject-performed tasks. European Journal of Cognitive
Psychology, 5, 393-414.
Engelkamp, J., Zimmer, H.D., Mohr,
G. & Sellen, O. (1994). Memory of
self-performed tasks: Self-performing during recognition. Memory &
Cognition, 22, 34-39.
3. Recall of related and unrelated
lists in verbal tasks and in subject-performed tasks.
Required Readings:
Engelkamp J. & Seiler, K.
(2003). Gains
and losses in action memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
Section, A, in press.
Seiler, K. & Engelkamp, J.
(2003). The role of item-specific information for the serial position curve in
free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition (in press).
4. Perceived and enacted actions: The
role of objects and order-relational information.
Required Readings:
Engelkamp, J. & Zimmer, H.D.
(1997). Sensory
factors in memory for subject-performed tasks. Acta Psychologica, 96, 43-60.
Engelkamp, J. & Dehn, D.
(2000). Item
and order information in subject- performed tasks and in experimenter-performed
tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition,
26, 671-682.
5. Perceived and enacted actions:
categoricall-relational vs. order-relational information
Required Readings:
Golly-Haering, C. & Engelkamp,
J. (2003). Categorical-relational and order-relational information in memory for
subject-performed and experimenter-performed actions. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, in press.
Engelkamp, J., Jahn, P. & Seiler, K. (2003). The
item-order hypothesis reconsidered: The role of order information in free
recall. Psychological Research, in press.
Johannes Engelkamp
received his diplom and his doctoral degree in psychology
from the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany. From 1975 onwards he was professor
of psychology until his retirement in 2001 at the University of the Saarland in
Saarbruecken, Germany. His main interest is in memory. In this field, he
published numerous books and articles, among them a book on “The human memory”
(1994) together with Hubert Zimmer, and on “Memory for actions” (1998). He was
editor of “Psychological Research” and other (German) journal in the field of
cognitive psychology. From 1999 until 2002, he was President and Vice-President
of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology.