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Adaptive Memory Human Memory – Spring 2023 LECTURE IS BASED ON: Nairne (2010). Adaptive Memory: Evolutionary Constraints on Remembering Bell & Buchner (2012). How Adaptive Is Memory for Cheaters? ADAPTIVE MEMORY ¢ Not only how we remember past events but WHY we remember them What is the function of memory? ¢ Evolutionary psychology: Understanding cognitive processes requires the analysis of the evolutionary pressures that have shaped the human brain Similar to our body parts serving specific functions in our body (e.g., heart pumping blood), our mind also evolved to serve specific functions Just like our other systems, memory must be evolved to solve specific adaptive problems Two lines of research: Survival relevance and memory ¢ Memory for social-cooperation partners (cheaters) ¢ Author's personal copy 4 James S. Nairne Table 1 Potential Candidates for Domain-Specific Mnemonic Processes. Type of fitness-relevant selection pressure Examples of potential mnemonic targets relevant to each type of selection pressure Survival-related events Food (edible vs. inedible), water, shelter, medicinal plants, predators, prey Landmarks, constellations, weather patterns Physical and/or social characteristics of potential mating partners and/or rivals Altruistic acts, reciprocation, violation of social contracts, social status or hierarchy Physical features and social actions of kin versus nonkin Navigation Reproduction Social exchange Kin Note: For each category, our memory systems might be tuned to remember the examples on the right; for example, remembering the locations of edible food, medicinal plants, the meaning of weather patterns, family members, and altruistic acts. Nairne, 2010 Not surprising, fitness-relevant information, such as information about social interactions or heroic exploits, tends to transmit easily and effectively SOME RELEVANT DATA ¢ Fitness-relevant stimuli, such as snakes and spiders, attract more attention (Öhman & Mineka, 2001). ¢ Taboo words (highly arousing erotic words) are remembered very well (Schmidt & Saari, 2007). ¢ Attractive faces are remembered better than average faces (Kenrick et al., 2007). THE SURVIVAL PROCESSING PARADIGM ¢Participants are asked to remember the same information (usually unrelated words) under different processing instructions. ¢Survival processing scenario is compared with several deep processing conditions ¢Surprise recall or recognition test recognition performance for the survival rating condition is then compared to performance in the ‘‘control’’ conditions, which also require meaningful, or ‘‘deep,’’ processing (Craik & Tulving, 1975). THE SURVIVAL PROCESSING PARADIGM Table 2 Scenarios Used in Nairne et al. (2007). Survival Moving Pleasantness In this task we would like you to imagine that you are stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land, without any basic survival materials. Over the next few months, you will need to find steady supplies of food and water and protect yourself from predators. We are going to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate how relevant each of these words would be for you in this survival situation. Some of the words may be relevant and others may not—it is up to you to decide. In this task we would like you to imagine that you are planning to move to a new home in a foreign land. Over the next few months, you will need to locate and purchase a new home and transport your belongings. We are going to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate how relevant each of these words would be for you in accomplishing this task. Some of the words may be relevant and others may not—it is up to you to decide. In this task, we are going to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate the pleasantness of each word. Some of the words may be pleasant and others may not—it is up to you to decide. Author's personal copy TYPICAL RESULT 0.70 Survival processing enhances James S. Nairne memory performance relative to other forms of meaningful, deep processing. ¢ Proportion correct recall 0.65 0.60 ¢ The moving condition is included as schematic/thematic control. ¢ This effect occurs in both withinand between-subject designs, with recall or recognition tests, pictures or words as stimuli. 0.55 0.50 0.45 0.40 Survival Moving Pleasantness e 1 Proportion correct recall for words rated for their relevance to a survival rio, a scenario involving moving, or for pleasantness (data adapted from Nairne Nairne et al. 2007 , 2007). igure 1 shows the standard finding: Survival processing enhances reten- Author's personal copy 7 Adaptive Memory: Evolutionary Constraints on Remembering ¢ 0.65 Survival processing enhances memory performance relative to other forms of meaningful, deep processing. Proportion correct recall 0.60 0.55 0.50 0.45 0.40 Survival Pleasantness Imagery Self-reference Generation Intentional Figure 2 Proportion correct recall for words rated for their relevance to a survival scenario along with recall proportions for a host of other recognized encoding techniNairne ques (data adapted from Nairne et al., 2008). forming visual images, self-reference (relating the item to a personal experi- et al. 2008 Survival processing advantage ¢ Everyone is asked to remember exactly the same stimuli, so it is not nature of items, it is the nature of processing! ¢ Processing information in a survival mode leads to enhanced memory, regardless of whether information is relevant to survival or not. ¢ Fitness-relevance is context-dependent. ‘‘food is survival relevant, but more so at the beginning of a meal than at its completion; a fur coat has high s-value at the North Pole, but low at the Equator’’ Alternative explanations of survival processing advantage Emotional arousal explanation ¢ survival processing could simply lead to greater emotional arousal than control conditions, boosting later recall of information encoded in such a context however, increased arousal does not always lead to enhanced memory and may, in fact, impair memory in some circumstances (central/peripheral trade-off). ¢ emotional advantage mostly occurs in mixed lists, only when emotional items stand out. ¢ however, survival advantage appears regardless of the task design. ¢ Alternative explanations of survival processing advantage Thematic processing explanation ¢ survival processing is effective simply because the information is processed in a rich thematic context, with enhanced relational processing. ¢ Survival scenario still leads to better memory when compared other thematic scenarios such as: moving to a foreign land vacationing at a fancy resort with all of their needs taken care of eating dinner at a restaurant planning a charity event with animals at the local zoo “REMEMBERING WITH A STONE-AGE BRAIN” Ancestral Priorities in Survival Processing ¢ Weinstein et al. (2008) asked people to process the relevance of words to a survival situation (just as in the original experiment), ¢ but varied whether the scenario described an ancestral or a modern setting: Ancestral condition: original survival scenario Modern condition: only two words were changed in the original survival scenario recognition performance for the survival rating condition is then compared to performance in the ‘‘control’’ conditions, which also require meaningful, or ‘‘deep,’’ processing (Craik & Tulving, 1975). city Table 2 Scenarios Used in Nairne et al. (2007). Survival In this task we would like you to imagine that you are stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land, without any basic survival materials. Over the next few months, you will need to find steady supplies of food and water and protect yourself from predators. We are going to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate how relevant each of these words would be for you in this survival situation. Some of the words may be relevant and others may not—it is up to you to decide. Moving In this task we would like you to imagine that you are planning to move to a new home inattackers a foreign land. Over the next few months, you will need to locate and purchase Memory performance: new home and transport your belongings. We are going Ancestrala > Modern to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate how relevant each of these words would be for you in accomplishing this task. Some of the words may be Ancestral Priorities in Survival Processing ¢ Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010 replicated Weinstein et al. (2008) and extended it to two new scenarios: 1. curing an infection 2. finding necessary food Survival scenario either in grasslands or in a city Exp1) participants were asked to imagine they had been hurt and a dangerous infection might be developing. Participants were instructed to rate the relevance of words to the task of finding ‘‘relevant medicinal plants’’ to cure the infection (ancestral) or finding ‘‘relevant antibiotics’’ (modern). Exp2) participants were asked to imagine they had not eaten for several days and needed to ‘‘search for and gather edible plants’’ (ancestral) or ‘‘search for and buy food’’ (modern). Nairne & Pandeirada, 2010 MAIN QUESTION FOR EVOLUTION OF MEMORY ¢ highly specialized multiple memory systems, each crafted to solve a particular kind of memory problem (e.g., remembering faces, edible plants, or predator types)? OR ¢ a few general systems defined more by flexibility than by specificity? SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY (COSMIDES & TOOBY, 1989) ¢ Social interaction is supported by specific mechanisms for social cooperation, speech, face processing, and theory of mind ¢ Cooperation can be successful in the long run if based on reciprocity ¢ It could only evolve together with mechanisms that help people detect and avoid cheaters cheater-detection mechanism People must remember cheaters MEMORY FOR CHEATERS Buchner & colleagues, 2009 ¢ Study: Faces + behavior descriptions Description MEMORY FOR CHEATERS Buchner & colleagues, 2009 ¢ Study: Faces + behavior descriptions (how attractive do you find this person?) ¢ Test: Face recognition test Source memory test old or new? a. cheating b. trustworthy c. neither cheating nor trustworthy MEMORY FOR CHEATERS Recognition memory for faces is not different across conditions But, source memory was much better for cheaters than for cooperators or neutrals SOURCE MEMORY ADVANTAGE ¢ Is this a cheater-specific advantage in memory? ¢ Or can it be explained by other variables that are known to affect memory? Emotion Distinctiveness Expectancy violation SOURCE MEMORY ADVANTAGE: EMOTION? ¢ Cheating context (description) elicits negative emotions, so the cheating descriptions attract attention and are encoded better ¢ Bell & Buchner, 2010 Does source memory advantage generalize to negative information that is irrelevant for social cooperation? ---- DISGUST SOURCE MEMORY ADVANTAGE: EMOTION? Source memory advantage was also found for disgusting contexts When cheating and disgusting contexts were compared directly: NO DIFFERENCE SOURCE MEMORY ADVANTAGE: EMOTION? ¢ Source memory is generally enhanced for negative information? –NO! Source memory for perpetrators and victims of cheating was compared using identical behaviour descriptions Perpetrator and victim descriptions were rated equally negative and arousing. Nevertheless, source memory was only enhanced for perpetrators, but not for victims. SO: not all negative source information is well-remembered, but only when information is associated with negative consequences for other people SOURCE MEMORY ADVANTAGE: EXPECTANCY VIOLATION? ¢ Enhanced source memory for information that is incongruent with participants’ expectations ¢ Bell et al., 2012 Source memory advantage for cheaters was greater for smiling faces MAIN QUESTION FOR EVOLUTION OF MEMORY ¢ highly specialized multiple memory systems, each crafted to solve a particular kind of memory problem (e.g., remembering faces, edible plants, or predator types)? OR ¢ a few general systems defined more by flexibility than by specificity?