Open research questions in Memory Processes and Influences

What the literature leaves open

• However, little is known about individual differences in memory for high-level social information.

  Developing a behavioral measure of social memory from narrative video · 2026 · DOI

• However, most studies have focused on adults using the collaborative recall method, with limited research specifically examining children.

  The beneficial effects of social collaboration on episodic memory in children: insights from ongoing and post-collaborative recognition · 2026 · DOI

• Although one study has examined the effect of encoding level on item memory for fear- and disgust-related words, it remains unclear whether encoding level similarly affects item memory for fearful and disgusting images, as well as source memory for emotional images.

  The effects of encoding levels on the item and source memory of fearful and disgusting stimuli · 2025 · DOI

• The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when limited knowledge causes individuals to overestimate their competence and underestimate others', leading to poor self-assessment and unrecognized incompetence.

  Prevalence of Dunning-Kruger effect in first semester medical students: a correlational study of self-assessment and actual academic performance · 2024 · DOI

• However, the optimal question format for maximizing knowledge retention remains uncertain.

  The battle of question formats: a comparative study of retrieval practice using very short answer questions and multiple choice questions · 2024 · DOI

• Future research could examine the effectiveness of the test in different contexts and with different populations. Future research could investigate the use of competitive distractors in other types of assessments.

  Testing that Makes You Think: Development of a Basic Science Test to Promote Future Clinical Learning · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need for assessments that promote distinctive processing and prepare learners for future clinical learning and clinical reasoning. Prior work on programmatic assessment has been plagued by issues with translating macro-level assessment changes into direct, in-the-moment benefits to learners.

  Testing that Makes You Think: Development of a Basic Science Test to Promote Future Clinical Learning · 2026 · DOI

• The use of common false-alarm rates in mixed-list designs is a challenge. The paper notes that alternative experimental designs are needed to adjudicate between theories of recognition memory.

  The Problem of Common False-Alarm Rates and the Informational Asymmetry When Comparing Pure and Mixed Lists in Recognition Memory: Reconsidering the List-Strength Effect · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the list-strength effect in recognition memory. The paper notes that the use of common false-alarm rates in mixed-list designs is a methodological limitation.

  The Problem of Common False-Alarm Rates and the Informational Asymmetry When Comparing Pure and Mixed Lists in Recognition Memory: Reconsidering the List-Strength Effect · 2026 · DOI

• Future research can use the introduced framework to investigate attentional mechanisms in various contexts. The study's findings can be extended to other types of memory and attention tasks.

  Orienting selective attention within long-term contextual memories · 2026 · DOI

• Despite its promise, our study has its limitations. The scope of the investigation was limited in two important respects. Only a narrow set of manipulations was performed, and measurements were confined to behavioral variables. The intention was to provide a solid 20 foundation for future research seeking to investigate selective attention within long-term memory retrieval. The initial set of tasks was designed to allow testing of the selection and prioritization of objects associated with individual scenes in long-term memory. It was not possible to assess the nature or precision of the spatial information associated with each object. The significant effects of the spatial cues indicate that spatial information was retained at least at the hemifield level. However, we did not test the granularity of the spatial information available to guide attention to memory associations, nor whether attention can improve the quality of the associations retrieved. Future studies could manipulate the spatial proximity of the items learned within given scenes to test how the degree of spatial competition impacts selective-attention benefits for retrieval. Continuous report measures could also be used to probe the precision of spatial retrieval. Similarly, our 2AFC measure provides little insight into whether selective attention can improve the quality of the non-spatial attributes of the objects retrieved. Responses using a continuous-response modality could provide evidence for whether the retrieval of object features is improved, for example, by using a color wheel to report the color of the retrieved object. The behavioral nature of these proof-of-concept experiments precluded strong inferences about the mechanisms underlying the costs and benefits of selective attention. Although highly sensitive, the used 2AFC response does not provide detailed information regarding the types of decision variables that may be impacted (e.g., response criterion, certainty, and confidence, in addition to sensitivity). Furthermore, our dependent variables, accuracy and response times at the 2AFC decision point, sample the cognitive system only at one, late time point. Therefore, it is not possible to address unambiguously the question of whether attention operates at early or late stages during selective retrieval. By complementing these behavioral studies with neural measures with high temporal resolution, it should be possible to test when selective attention significantly impacts the retrieval process. Studies using EEG or MEG methods can reveal whether selective attention impacts the retrieval process proactively, before the response probe, and, if so, how early in the retrieval process the modulation begins. 4.5.

  Orienting selective attention within long-term contextual memories · 2026 · DOI

• Future research can focus on evaluating the proposed framework on real-world data. Future research can focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the framework.

  DYNAMIC VALIDATION AND RELEVANCE MAINTENANCE OF NEURAL CORRELATES UNDER CONTINUAL LEARNING · 2026 · DOI

• The problem of concept drift in deep neural networks is not well addressed by traditional methods. The proposed framework provides a novel solution to this problem.

  DYNAMIC VALIDATION AND RELEVANCE MAINTENANCE OF NEURAL CORRELATES UNDER CONTINUAL LEARNING · 2026 · DOI

• The DRM illusion in short-term memory is not well understood. The effects of retention interval on true and false recognition are not well understood.

  The Deese/Roediger–McDermott (DRM) illusion in short-term memory: Opposite effects of retention interval on true and false recognition · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of research comparing IEMT and EMDR directed eye movements. The effectiveness of IEMT and EMDR in reducing emotionality and distress related to negative memories is not well understood.

  An exploratory comparison of IEMT- versus EMDR-directed eye movements on changes in emotionality and distress during recall of negative memories · 2026 · DOI

• How students choose to use multiple-choice and cued-recall practice questions is not well understood. The effectiveness of practice questions depends on how students choose to use them.

  Do students believe that multiple choice and cued recall practice questions have different utility? · 2026 · DOI

• The current experiments were the first to investigate students’ use of multiple-choice and cuedrecall practice tests when they had access to both formats for the same material and could complete as many practice test trials as they wanted. Because these two experiments are the first to investigate this topic, many directions for future investigations remain. Students’ learning choices in the present experiments might not represent global beliefs about utility that would apply to other learning environments. Many factors can influence students’ learning choices, including difficulty of learning material (Badali et al., 2022; Wissman et al., 2012; Toppino et al., 2018; Tullis et al., 2018), format of text expected (Finley & Benjamin, 2012; Kang, 2009), and many other factors. Below, I discuss two directions for future research that I view as particularly important. First, future research can investigate whether results remain similar when different learning materials are used. The type of learning material may be an important moderator of participants’ beliefs about the utility of each format. In particular, the difficulty of the material and the length of the correct response could change participants’ choices. Regarding difficulty, learners typically wait to take a practice test until they think they can get the answer correct (for a review of the evidence consistent with this claim, see Rivers, 2020). Badali et al. (2022) gave students access to optional cued-recall practice questions and found that students completed more restudy trials before their first practice test trial for normatively difficult items compared to normatively easy items, presumably because students judge that they will not get the difficult items correct without restudying first. If students had access to both multiple-choice and cued-recall practice questions when learning material of varying difficulty, it is possible that students would use these questions differently based on the difficulty of the specific item they are learning. For example, students may prefer to challenge themselves with a cued-recall practice question for easier items but choose to complete multiplechoice practice questions for the more difficult items, which would provide support for the both-beneficial subtype of the non-redundant utility hypothesis. Alternatively, students may believe that one format is better than the other regardless of item difficulty, which would provide additional support for the one-is-better subtype of the non-redundant utility hypothesis. Regarding length of the correct response, multiple-choice questions tend to be faster to complete than cued-recall questions when completing practice questions for foreign-language word pairs (Badali et al., 2023).

  Do students believe that multiple choice and cued recall practice questions have different utility? · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should investigate the role of fluency in metacognitive judgments using a pure measure of retrieval speed. Future research should examine the generalizability of the findings to other types of questions and contexts. Future research should explore the implications of the study for applied contexts such as eyewitness memory.

  Both fluency and response repetition are responsible for inflated confidence induced by repeated questioning · 2026 · DOI

• The fluency hypothesis has received virtually uncontested support as an explanation for the repeated questioning effect, but the current study finds that first-key latency is a more reliable measure of retrieval fluency. The response-repetition hypothesis has been proposed as an alternative explanation, but the current study finds that both hypotheses contribute to the effect.

  Both fluency and response repetition are responsible for inflated confidence induced by repeated questioning · 2026 · DOI

• The study only examined the effect of judgments of learning on memory performance in the context of experimenter-paced learning of word pairs. The sample size was limited to 208 participants. The study did not control for potential individual differences in metamemory abilities.

  Judgments of learning modify memory even when made covertly or using a non-numerical scale · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should investigate the effect of judgments of learning on memory performance in different contexts. The study suggests that future research should examine the mechanisms underlying judgments of learning and memory performance. Future research should investigate the implications of the findings for educational settings.

  Judgments of learning modify memory even when made covertly or using a non-numerical scale · 2026 · DOI

• The generalizability of immediate JOL reactivity to educationally relevant materials remains unclear. Prior research has primarily focused on word pairs, words, and images.

  Immediate judgments of learning do not improve performance for educationally relevant materials: Evidence from key-term definitions, country outlines, and animal species · 2026 · DOI

• Further research is needed to evaluate this possibility. Future research is needed to identify the cues learners use for making JOLs about education- ally relevant materials to assess the extent to which the cue-strengthening account can serve as a viable explanation for the generalizability of immediate JOL reactivity. , lacking knowledge about the world region a country is located in), which could be used as cues for making JOLs.

  Immediate judgments of learning do not improve performance for educationally relevant materials: Evidence from key-term definitions, country outlines, and animal species · 2026 · DOI

• The study had a limited sample size of 101 participants. The study only examined the effect of collaboration on valence memory biases in young and older adults. The study did not control for other factors that may affect memory biases.

  Preliminary evidence that remembering together can help younger adults recall the positive · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of understanding regarding the effect of collaboration on valence memory biases in young and older adults. Prior studies have found conflicting results regarding the effect of collaboration on memory biases in young adults.

  Preliminary evidence that remembering together can help younger adults recall the positive · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Memory Processes and Influences

• The perceptron: A probabilistic model for information storage and organization in the brain. · Psychological Review · 1958 · 8,337 citations
• The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · 2001 · 4,665 citations
• Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1968 · 4,551 citations
• A theory of memory retrieval. · Psychological Review · 1978 · 3,702 citations
• Episodic Memory: From Mind to Brain · Annual Review of Psychology · 2002 · 3,509 citations
• Memory--a Century of Consolidation · Science · 2000 · 3,372 citations
• Memory and consciousness. · Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne · 1985 · 3,326 citations
• Source monitoring. · Psychological Bulletin · 1993 · 3,101 citations
• Working Memory: Theories, Models, and Controversies · Annual Review of Psychology · 2011 · 3,071 citations
• Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory. · Psychological Review · 1973 · 2,983 citations

Most recent work

• Fragmented learning from short videos modulates neural activity and connectivity during memory retrieval · npj Science of Learning · 2026
• A neural network model of free recall learns multiple memory strategies · bioRxiv · 2026
• Neural activations and representations during episodic versus semantic memory retrieval · Nature Human Behaviour · 2026
• The Benefits of Drawing and Describing for Recognizing Object Images · Applied Cognitive Psychology · 2026
• A Common Neural Signal of Evidence Accumulation for Perceptual and Mnemonic Decisions · bioRxiv · 2026
• Episodic memory facilitates flexible decision-making via access to detailed events · Nature Human Behaviour · 2026
• How and why writers seek feedback: a scoping review of feedback-seeking behavior · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · 2026
• Semantic knowledge and hierarchical event structure can scaffold memory for temporal order. · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 2026
• Late Positive Potentials as an Index of “Desirably Difficult” Learning Processes Engaged During Language Comprehension: ERP Evidence From Studies of Domain Knowledge · Psychophysiology · 2026
• Functional Specialization of Angular Gyrus and Precuneus Subregions for Perspective-Guided Autobiographical Memory Retrieval · bioRxiv · 2026

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