Strategic regulation of grain size in memory reporting over time

Morris Goldsmith; Asher Koriat; Ainat Pansky

doi:10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010

Strategic regulation of grain size in memory reporting over time

Morris Goldsmith, Asher Koriat, Ainat Pansky

Department of Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

As time passes, people often remember the gist of an event though they cannot remember its details. Can rememberers exploit this difference by strategically regulating the "grain size" of their answers over time, to avoid reporting wrong information? A metacognitive model of the control of grain size in memory reporting was examined in two experiments, in which memory for quantitative information contained in a fictitious eyewitness transcript was tested either immediately, or after 1 day or 1 week. Given control over the grain size of their answers, participants' report accuracy still declined with delayed testing, but at a slower rate than when forced to provide only precise answers, remaining stable between the 1-day and 1-week tests. The observed pattern of change and stability in chosen-grain report accuracy was traced to the use of a stable control policy in the face of less effective monitoring judgments at delayed testing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	505-525
Number of pages	21
Journal	Journal of Memory and Language
Volume	52
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010
State	Published - May 2005

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant to Morris Goldsmith and Asher Koriat from the Israel Science Foundation founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Facilities for conducting the research were provided by the Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, and by the Max Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance. We thank Amit Weinberg-Eliezer and Sarah Kate Bar for their help in preparing and running the experiments, and in reviewing the relevant literature.

Keywords

Confidence judgments
Forgetting
Gist memory
Memory accuracy
Metamemory
Monitoring and control

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Language and Linguistics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Linguistics and Language
Artificial Intelligence

Access to Document

10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010

Cite this

@article{75cf01a5e7024e23a2400ba8df71ed2b,

title = "Strategic regulation of grain size in memory reporting over time",

abstract = "As time passes, people often remember the gist of an event though they cannot remember its details. Can rememberers exploit this difference by strategically regulating the {"}grain size{"} of their answers over time, to avoid reporting wrong information? A metacognitive model of the control of grain size in memory reporting was examined in two experiments, in which memory for quantitative information contained in a fictitious eyewitness transcript was tested either immediately, or after 1 day or 1 week. Given control over the grain size of their answers, participants' report accuracy still declined with delayed testing, but at a slower rate than when forced to provide only precise answers, remaining stable between the 1-day and 1-week tests. The observed pattern of change and stability in chosen-grain report accuracy was traced to the use of a stable control policy in the face of less effective monitoring judgments at delayed testing.",

keywords = "Confidence judgments, Forgetting, Gist memory, Memory accuracy, Metamemory, Monitoring and control",

author = "Morris Goldsmith and Asher Koriat and Ainat Pansky",

note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by a grant to Morris Goldsmith and Asher Koriat from the Israel Science Foundation founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Facilities for conducting the research were provided by the Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, and by the Max Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance. We thank Amit Weinberg-Eliezer and Sarah Kate Bar for their help in preparing and running the experiments, and in reviewing the relevant literature. ",

year = "2005",

month = may,

doi = "10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010",

language = "English",

volume = "52",

pages = "505--525",

journal = "Journal of Memory and Language",

issn = "0749-596X",

publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Strategic regulation of grain size in memory reporting over time

AU - Goldsmith, Morris

AU - Koriat, Asher

AU - Pansky, Ainat

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by a grant to Morris Goldsmith and Asher Koriat from the Israel Science Foundation founded by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Facilities for conducting the research were provided by the Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, and by the Max Wertheimer Minerva Center for Cognitive Processes and Human Performance. We thank Amit Weinberg-Eliezer and Sarah Kate Bar for their help in preparing and running the experiments, and in reviewing the relevant literature.

PY - 2005/5

Y1 - 2005/5

N2 - As time passes, people often remember the gist of an event though they cannot remember its details. Can rememberers exploit this difference by strategically regulating the "grain size" of their answers over time, to avoid reporting wrong information? A metacognitive model of the control of grain size in memory reporting was examined in two experiments, in which memory for quantitative information contained in a fictitious eyewitness transcript was tested either immediately, or after 1 day or 1 week. Given control over the grain size of their answers, participants' report accuracy still declined with delayed testing, but at a slower rate than when forced to provide only precise answers, remaining stable between the 1-day and 1-week tests. The observed pattern of change and stability in chosen-grain report accuracy was traced to the use of a stable control policy in the face of less effective monitoring judgments at delayed testing.

AB - As time passes, people often remember the gist of an event though they cannot remember its details. Can rememberers exploit this difference by strategically regulating the "grain size" of their answers over time, to avoid reporting wrong information? A metacognitive model of the control of grain size in memory reporting was examined in two experiments, in which memory for quantitative information contained in a fictitious eyewitness transcript was tested either immediately, or after 1 day or 1 week. Given control over the grain size of their answers, participants' report accuracy still declined with delayed testing, but at a slower rate than when forced to provide only precise answers, remaining stable between the 1-day and 1-week tests. The observed pattern of change and stability in chosen-grain report accuracy was traced to the use of a stable control policy in the face of less effective monitoring judgments at delayed testing.

KW - Confidence judgments

KW - Forgetting

KW - Gist memory

KW - Memory accuracy

KW - Metamemory

KW - Monitoring and control

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=16344385653&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010

DO - 10.1016/j.jml.2005.01.010

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:16344385653

SN - 0749-596X

VL - 52

SP - 505

EP - 525

JO - Journal of Memory and Language

JF - Journal of Memory and Language

IS - 4

ER -

Strategic regulation of grain size in memory reporting over time

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this