Read carefully, this is important: The impact of value-driven strategies on sentence processing and memory

Chung, Yu Min

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120308 Copy

Description

Title

Read carefully, this is important: The impact of value-driven strategies on sentence processing and memory

Author(s)

Chung, Yu Min

Issue Date

2023-04-24

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

Federmeier, Kara D

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Federmeier, Kara D

Committee Member(s)

• Fabiani, Monica
• Fisher, Cynthia L
• Gratton, Gabriele
• Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth AL

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• prediction
• sentence memory
• ERPs
• value-directed remembering
• comprehension strategies

Abstract

The ability to exert control over and encode important information is a critical life skill. Across four experiments, we examined how people may process important but more complex information like sentences, what impact such processes may have on later memory of the information, and how this may change (or not change) with age. In Experiment 1, we adapt the value-directed remembering (VDR) paradigm (Castel et al., 2002; Watkins & Bloom, 1999) to examine whether the kinds of value-based effects that have been documented for simple stimuli can also be observed for complex ones like sentences, and, if so, what kinds of strategies might afford such effects. In particular, we consider predictive processing as a comprehension strategy during reading. Experiment 2 extended the paradigm to older adults, a group that is typically thought to successfully employ strategies to retain high-value single words but not to engage in prediction during reading. In Experiment 3 and 4, we recorded participants’ ERPs and backsorted their brainwaves based on later memory outcome to more directly investigate what processing strategies may be employed in the moment by younger and older adults. Across four experiments, we provide evidence that first, people can use value information to guide their memory for complex information like sentences. Second, providing value information after encoding may promote more accurate memory, because participants in both age groups were found to engage in predictive processing to increase their engagement with the material when they knew upcoming information was important beforehand and this paradoxically resulted in worse memory. Specifically, participants showed reduced memory for sentences when predictions are violated and increased false memory for unfulfilled predictions. Third, younger adults showed flexible strategy use across (Experiment 1) and within (Experiment 3) tasks whereas older adults did not show flexibility between tasks (Experiment 2) and limited flexibility within task (Experiment 4). Last, with sufficient task support, older adults were found to adapt to task demands and employ typically unused strategies to upregulate their engagement with the material, but this did not completely compensate for more automatic comprehension processes as measured by their ERPs.

Graduation Semester

2023-05

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 Yu Min Chung

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