MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-04DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2719605
Tejas Savalia, Jeffrey J Starns, Andrew L Cohen
{"title":"Implicit boundaries are remembered better than non-boundaries in statistical learning.","authors":"Tejas Savalia, Jeffrey J Starns, Andrew L Cohen","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2719605","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2026.2719605","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Changes in temporal context have been shown to impact episodic memory of the \"boundary\" items involved in creating this temporal context. However, in most prior studies, changes in temporal context have been operationalised explicitly, typically through perceptually obvious visual or auditory stimuli that form a boundary between the previous and current context. In this work, we explore how recognition of items is impacted when temporal context change is operationalised implicitly through the order of presentation during the study phase. 59 participants were exposed to a rotation judgment cover task for 15 randomly generated polygon items. Around half of the participants were presented with these items in a random order. The other half were presented with items such that 6 items formed \"boundaries\" that led in and out of 3 temporal clusters. Similar to findings where boundaries are explicitly operationalised, we show that implicit boundaries are also better remembered than non-boundary items.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"1-15"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148887964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tracking changes for a positive public event memory: a longitudinal study of the 2024 solar eclipse.","authors":"Lauren Nordstrom, Jade Gordon, Azara Lalla, Daniela J Palombo, Signy Sheldon","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2727404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2026.2727404","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Autobiographical memories encompass both personally experienced events and shared public events, each thought to serve distinct functions in daily life. A memory for a given event is known to change over time, with specific details fading while the overall gist is relatively preserved. Whether this pattern differs for personal versus public events remains unclear, particularly for positive public experiences. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a longitudinal behavioural study in which 175 university students were asked to report on memories for a personal event and a positive public event, the 2024 solar eclipse, four times over six months. At each timepoint, the participants provided free recalls of the memories, answered specific questions about details of the memories, and completed subjective ratings. Using natural language processing to assess gist memory in free recalls, we found stronger preservation of gist for the solar eclipse than for personal memories. Assessing the consistency of specific event details within the memories across time, we found a steeper decline in consistency for the solar eclipse than for personal memories. Finally, the subjective rating responses revealed that the solar eclipse memories retained a stronger confidence in recall compared to personal event memories. These results point towards different trajectories for personal versus public event memories, which could reflect different roles of these memories in daily life.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148892005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-02DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2727413
Mohsen Mahmoudi-Dehaki, Nasim Nasr-Esfahani
{"title":"How therapist discourse shapes trauma narratives in immigrant clients.","authors":"Mohsen Mahmoudi-Dehaki, Nasim Nasr-Esfahani","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2727413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2026.2727413","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined how therapist-client interactions during trauma therapy are associated with the interactional reconstruction of trauma narratives in immigrant clients, focusing on narrative coherence, temporal sequencing and cross-session stabilisation rather than objective memory accuracy. Sixty-two therapy sessions and 24 client interviews with participants from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon conducted in Isfahan, Iran were analyzed. In the qualitative phase, micro-level discourse analysis explored therapist prompts, reformulations and client responses, while macro-level narrative analysis examined cross-session coherence and organisation of trauma narratives. Identified patterns were further coded to document their frequency and co-occurrence with narrative shifts. Results indicated that interpretive questions and reformulative practices appeared associated with changes in temporal sequencing, evaluative framing and narrative coherence, whereas open-ended prompts and reflective listening supported autonomous narrative elaboration. Multilingual resources and culturally patterned storytelling also modulated narrative co-construction and stabilisation. Findings highlight the ethical and clinical importance of attending to language, interaction and culture to support therapeutic processes while minimising unintended influences on clients' narrative construction during therapy. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions of how therapist-client interaction shapes narrative reconstruction in trauma-focused psychotherapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148880877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2025-11-27DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2025.2592947
Bruno Verschuere, Bennett Kleinberg, Mirjam van Kolfschooten, Leonie Bolhoven, Eric Rassin
{"title":"How Dutch legal professionals assess statement credibility: evidence from a survey and an analysis of 518 court rulings on sexual abuse.","authors":"Bruno Verschuere, Bennett Kleinberg, Mirjam van Kolfschooten, Leonie Bolhoven, Eric Rassin","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2025.2592947","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2025.2592947","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In sexual abuse cases, the witness statement plays a fundamental role. This brings about the complex task for judges to evaluate the statement on its credibility. In Study 1, we polled 79 Dutch legal professionals about the criteria they rely on to evaluate the credibility of a statement. Most criteria mentioned pertained to the content of the statement, specifically consistency (66%), accuracy (66%), and detailedness (53%). Twenty-eight percent mentioned all three criteria. The way the statement is presented was also mentioned (non-verbal behaviour: 14%, emotion; 13%; authentic impression: 11%). In Study 2, we analyzed 518 Dutch court rulings on sexual assault on the criteria used in credibility assessment. The most often used criteria were again consistency (80.1%), detailedness (65%), and accuracy (31%), with 13% relying on all three criteria. Authentic impression (23%), emotionality during the statement (13%), and signs of trauma (9.5%) were also regularly used. In conclusion, legal professionals rely heavily on content criteria (Consistency, Accuracy, and Detailedness) - but not in a systematic way. Highly contested criteria (i.e., emotion, trauma, nonverbal behaviour, authentic impression) are also regularly used. Judicial decision-making may benefit from relying exclusively on validated indicators and doing so in a more systematic manner.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"998-1007"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145635638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-06-30DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2691565
Preston P Thakral, Kevin P Madore, Ruth E Gomez, Aleea L Devitt
{"title":"Episodic and semantic memory contributions to imagination and creativity.","authors":"Preston P Thakral, Kevin P Madore, Ruth E Gomez, Aleea L Devitt","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691565","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691565","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ability to generate novel creative ideas (divergent thinking) is closely linked with our ability to imagine novel future events (episodic simulation). Here, we employed an individual differences approach to examine whether divergent thinking and episodic simulation are differentially associated with episodic and semantic retrieval ability. In response to object word cues, participants generated meanings and definitions (semantic memory), remembered a past event (episodic memory), imagined a novel future event (episodic simulation), or generated novel uses (divergent thinking). Replicating previous findings, divergent thinking ability was predicted by the number of episodic details generated during episodic simulation. When directly comparing episodic and semantic memory, the strongest predictor of divergent thinking was semantic memory. In contrast, episodic simulation ability was predicted by both episodic and semantic memory. We interpret these findings as support for the semantic scaffold hypothesis of imagination, according to which semantic memory provides the necessary scaffold or framework for flexible expressions of cognition such as divergent thinking and episodic simulation. As episodic simulation, relative to divergent thinking, was associated with both episodic and semantic retrieval, these findings are taken to reflect common reliance on event construction processes recruited during both episodic remembering and imagining.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"915-926"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148361524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-06-22DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2691574
Chenxin Yu, Kara N Moore
{"title":"Revisiting the confidence-accuracy relationship in eyewitness identification: a metacognitive perspective.","authors":"Chenxin Yu, Kara N Moore","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691574","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691574","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The fallibility of eyewitness memory has been demonstrated in decades of research. This presents a challenge to legal practitioners and triers of fact when evaluating the trustworthiness of eyewitness identification. A witness's initial confidence in their identification decision is a potentially useful indicator of accuracy. While the field generally agrees that there is a meaningful relationship between confidence and accuracy, uncertainty remains about whether high confidence can serve as a direct indicator of accuracy in real-world legal settings. In this review, we integrate findings on the confidence-accuracy (CA) relationship in eyewitness identification research with prevailing metacognitive theories of retrospective confidence and individual differences. We argue for greater consideration of the influence of individual-level factors - particularly metacognitive bias and domain-specific competence, which influence how effectively people monitor their memory - on the CA relationship. Understanding these variables may help answer the key question facing courts: given a witness's expressed confidence, how likely is it that their identification is correct? We discuss how measurement approaches from metacognitive research can be used to clarify when, and for whom, confidence reliably predicts accuracy and suggest future directions of research that may help better understand this question.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"1008-1029"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148302237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of stereotype threat on episodic memory and metamemory in older adults: when study time matters.","authors":"Lina Guerrero, Anne-Laure Gilet, Badiâa Bouazzaoui","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2711903","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2711903","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Metacognitive processes may play a key role in how stereotype threat negatively affects memory in older adults. However, few studies have examined the effects of stereotype threat on metamemory in ageing, and findings remain inconsistent. We explored whether stereotype threat affects the two main dimensions of metamemory: monitoring and control, focusing on learning self-regulation through study time adjustment. Ninety-two older adults, randomly assigned to a stereotype threat or to a control condition, completed a study time allocation task in which task difficulty was manipulated by varying the strength of association between word pairs. Monitoring was assessed using Judgments of Learning (JOLs), and control through study-time adjustments according to task difficulty. Results indicated that stereotype threat had no significant effect on JOLs predictions, their accuracy, or on study time adjustment according to task difficulty. However, overall study time was higher in the threatened group than in the control one. Stereotype threat biased learning self-regulation, leading older adults to allocate additional study time. This reduced processing efficiency, as the threatened group needed to mobilise supplementary resources to achieve the same level of performance as the control group.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"954-973"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148679188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-06-22DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2691571
Trine Sonne, Osman S Kingo
{"title":"Beliefs about child witnesses: a survey of Danish legal professionals, social workers and psychologists.","authors":"Trine Sonne, Osman S Kingo","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691571","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2691571","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Beliefs about our memory can have consequences for how we act in our everyday life and in professional contexts, including what we expect from witnesses during interviews. Previous research has documented that the beliefs that professionals or laypeople hold regarding witnesses are not always aligned with science. While most studies have targeted beliefs about memory in general, fewer studies have tailored their questionnaires to map out beliefs about child witnesses. In this study, we surveyed 340 Danish professionals including police, psychologists, social workers, judges, defence attorneys, and prosecutors about their beliefs regarding children as witnesses. Since the main interest was to map out current beliefs held by the groups, we did not have predictions regarding specific items. However, since previous research has shown that beliefs held by various professional groups are not always aligned with science, this was also to be expected in this study. Overall, the results replicated earlier findings. It is noteworthy that a large proportion of respondents selected the response category \"neither agree nor disagree\". Furthermore, prior training was found to influence the responses. Key areas where an update of the knowledge base is deemed relevant are highlighted and future directions are discussed.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"927-938"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148295626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2025-07-29DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2025.2538718
Fabiana Battista, Henry Otgaar, Ivan Mangiulli, Antonietta Curci
{"title":"Investigating how adopting different deceptive strategies simultaneously affects memory.","authors":"Fabiana Battista, Henry Otgaar, Ivan Mangiulli, Antonietta Curci","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2025.2538718","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2025.2538718","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research has shown that lying can affect memory differently depending on the type of strategy (e.g., false denials, feigning amnesia, fabrication). At present, no studies have investigated how using different strategies simultaneously while replying to questions concerning the event impacts on memory. Hence, in the present experiment, participants watched a mock crime video, then they either told the truth (i.e., truth-telling group) or lied about the crime by adopting the three deceptive strategies (i.e., mixed lying group). We also included a third group that did not answer any question (i.e., delayed testing-only control group). After one-week, all participants provided an honest account of their memory for the interview and the crime, along with memory and belief ratings. Lying exerted an undermining effect on memory. That is, liars reported an impaired recall (i.e., fewer correct details and higher commissions) of the event and the interview as compared with those in the truth-telling group. However, the delayed testing-only control group reported a higher impairment than liars and truth-tellers. These findings provide insightful information on the possible mechanisms behind the effects of lying on memory (e.g., lack of rehearsal).</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"986-997"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144742815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MemoryPub Date : 2026-09-01Epub Date: 2026-08-04DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2026.2712599
Xingyu Yang, Yao Wang, Likan Zhan
{"title":"Boundary-constrained chunking shapes local-global positional representations in working memory.","authors":"Xingyu Yang, Yao Wang, Likan Zhan","doi":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2712599","DOIUrl":"10.1080/09658211.2026.2712599","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chunking is a key mechanism by which working memory (WM) compresses sequential information, yet little is known about how it reorganises positional representations. We examined when chunking produces stable and shared local-global positional structure in WM. Across four behavioural experiments, participants encoded nine-item sequences and later reported the original position of a probed item. The sequence types differed in the source and strength of chunk-defining boundaries: structured linguistic sequences, scrambled linguistic sequences, color-segmented shape sequences, and uniformly colored shape sequences. We characterised positional representations by applying parameterised behavioural representational similarity analysis to position-specific response distributions. Structured linguistic sequences produced a near-orthogonal geometry, indicating clearly separable local and global positional structure. Color-segmented shape sequences yielded a reduced-angle, reduced-scale geometry, suggesting weaker local-global organization; individual-level analyses further indicated that this intermediate group-level solution partly reflected participant-level heterogeneity. In contrast, scrambled linguistic and uniformly colored shape sequences were best described by one-dimensional solutions, implying that local and global dimensions were no longer separable when explicit boundary cues were absent. These findings suggest that chunking does not produce a uniform representational format in WM; instead, separable local-global structure depends on the source and strength of chunking cues.</p>","PeriodicalId":18569,"journal":{"name":"Memory","volume":" ","pages":"974-985"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148673918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}