TY - JOUR A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - John, Thomas T1 - The development of adaptive memory: Young children show enhanced retention of animacy-related information JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology N2 - Previous developmental work has indicated that animacy is a foundational ontogenetic category that is given priority already early in life. Here, we investigated whether such priority is also present in children’s episodic memory, examining whether young children show enhanced retention of animacy-related information. Kindergartners and younger and older elementary school children were presented with fictitious (non)words (e.g., BULA, LAFE) paired with properties characteristic of humans (e.g., “likes music”), (nonhuman) animals (e.g., “builds nests”), and inanimate things (e.g., “has four edges”) and were asked to rate the animacy status of each nonword. After a retention interval, a surprise recognition test for the nonwords was administered. We found enhanced recognition of nonwords paired with human and animal properties compared with (the same) nonwords paired with inanimate properties. The size of this animacy advantage was comparable across age groups, suggesting developmental invariance of the advantage over the age range examined (i.e., 4–11 years). The results support a functional–evolutionary view on memory, suggesting that already young children’s memory is “tuned” to process and retain animacy. KW - Cognitive development KW - Evolutionary psychology KW - Episodic memory KW - Adaptive memory KW - Ancestral priorities KW - Mnemonic animacy advantage in children Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.07.007 VL - 152 SP - 343 EP - 350 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T. T1 - Testing enhances subsequent learning in older but not in younger elementary school children JF - Developmental Science N2 - In adults, testing can enhance subsequent learning by reducing interference from the tested information. Here, we examined this forward effect of testing in children. Younger and older elementary school children and adult controls studied four lists of items in anticipation of a final cumulative recall test. Following presentation of each of the first three lists, participants were immediately tested on the respective list, or the list was re-presented for additional study. Results revealed that, compared to additional study, immediate testing of Lists 1–3 enhanced memory for the subsequently studied List 4 in adults and older elementary school children, but not in younger elementary school children. The findings indicate that the forward effect of testing is a relatively late-maturing phenomenon that develops over middle childhood and is still inefficient in the early elementary school years. Together with the results of other recent studies, these findings point to a more general problem in young children in combating interference. KW - elementary school children Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12340 VL - 19 IS - 6 SP - 992 EP - 998 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tempel, Tobias A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - Frings, Christian T1 - Competition dependence of retrieval-induced forgetting in motor memory JF - Memory & Cognition volume N2 - In two experiments, we examined the competition dependence of retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) in motor memory. Participants learned sequential finger movements as responses to letter stimuli. The learning phase comprised two parts. In both parts, half of the motor sequences were to be executed at one of two locations (the left or right side of a keyboard) by pressing the corresponding response keys. Retrieval practice of half of the motor sequences at one location induced forgetting of the nonpracticed motor sequences at that location. However, RIF was prevented in Experiment 1 when retrieval practice took place before the nonpracticed items had even been encoded. In Experiment 2, RIF was prevented by intentionally forgetting the nonpracticed motor sequences prior to retrieval practice. These results suggest that precluding competition by related items during retrieval practice precluded them from being affected by RIF. The present findings support an inhibitory account and speak against the alternative assumptions that associative blocking or a mental context change causes RIF. KW - Motor memory KW - Body movement KW - Retrieval-induced forgetting KW - Inhibition Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-015-0578-3 VL - 44 IS - 4 SP - 671 EP - 680 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kuhbandner, Christof A1 - Aslan, Alp A1 - Emmerdinger, Kathrin A1 - Murayama, Kou T1 - Providing Extrinsic Reward for Test Performance Undermines Long-Term Memory Acquisition JF - Frontiers in Psychology N2 - Based on numerous studies showing that testing studied material can improve long-term retention more than restudying the same material, it is often suggested that the number of tests in education should be increased to enhance knowledge acquisition. However, testing in real-life educational settings often entails a high degree of extrinsic motivation of learners due to the common practice of placing important consequences on the outcome of a test. Such an effect on the motivation of learners may undermine the beneficial effects of testing on long-term memory because it has been shown that extrinsic motivation can reduce the quality of learning. To examine this issue, participants learned foreign language vocabulary words, followed by an immediate test in which one-third of the words were tested and one-third restudied. To manipulate extrinsic motivation during immediate testing, participants received either monetary reward contingent on test performance or no reward. After 1 week, memory for all words was tested. In the immediate test, reward reduced correct recall and increased commission errors, indicating that reward reduced the number of items that can benefit from successful retrieval. The results in the delayed test revealed that reward additionally reduced the gain received from successful retrieval because memory for initially successfully retrieved words was lower in the reward condition. However, testing was still more effective than restudying under reward conditions because reward undermined long-term memory for concurrently restudied material as well. These findings indicate that providing performance–contingent reward in a test can undermine long-term knowledge acquisition. KW - testing effect KW - motivation KW - high-stakes testing KW - long-term memory KW - monetary reward Y1 - 2021 UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00079 VL - 7 SP - 79 ER -