Memory for actions that are done, imagined, or promised in text

Deshaies, Sarah-Elizabeth Marion-Antonia

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/104726 Copy

Description

Title

Memory for actions that are done, imagined, or promised in text

Author(s)

Deshaies, Sarah-Elizabeth Marion-Antonia

Issue Date

2018-11-05

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Christianson, Kiel

Department of Study

Educational Psychology

Discipline

Educational Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Memory
• Reading
• Reading Span
• Operation Span
• Discourse Processing
• Linguistic Processing
• Trustworthiness

Abstract

Thinking about an action is sometimes misremembered as doing the action (Garry, Maning, Loftus, & Sherman, 1996). Does this sort of effect hold when people read texts depicting characters thinking about or promising to do actions compared to doing the action? The first experiment asked participants to read vignettes (short stories) that described a character either thinking about doing an action, promising to do an action, or doing that action. Once the vignettes were read, participants were asked about every vignette read, e.g., “Did Monica replace the locks?” Participants then completed an Operation Span and a Reading Span task to measure working memory. The results showed a strong main effect of verb type (Do, Promise, Think) in both accuracy and reading times, with the mean accuracy for the Do condition at 76% correct vs Promise at 40%, and Think at 46% correct. Neither OSPAN nor RSPAN emerged as significant predictors in the models. In the second experiment, participants read similar vignettes that described characters (normed with respect to trustworthiness) either thinking about, promising, or doing an action. The results from experiment two replicated the first experiment with a strong main effect of verb type. However, no main effect of trustworthiness was found. A three-way interaction between the verb type Think, Trustworthiness, and OSPAN was obtained in accuracy. The study results are discussed within models of discourse processing, and memory.

Graduation Semester

2019-05

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104726

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Sarah-Elizabeth Deshaies

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