Open research questions in Memory Processes and Influences
136 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 4,427 Memory Processes and Influences papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
To address this gap in the literature, here we induced happy and sad moods after participants encoded emotional stimuli and then tested memory at least a day later with both recall and recognition tests.
The subset analyses helped reconcile these mixed results: 36% of participants made choices that fit the predictions of the both-beneficial subtype, and 61% of participants made learning choices that fit the predictions of the one-is-better subtype.
Do students believe that multiple choice and cued recall practice questions have different utility? · 2026 · DOIThe 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 · DOIFurther 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 · DOIMoreover, little is known about how collaboration affects valence biases in older adults' memories, even though it is well documented that older adults often show positive memory biases on individual recall tasks.
Preliminary evidence that remembering together can help younger adults recall the positive · 2026 · DOIDespite 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.
Our current experiments are just an initial step in a rich parameter space to be explored. Our experiments manipulated spatial internal attention with hemifield-level spatial cues. Spatial cues can be much more specific than just hemifields. Other types of information can also be used to guide attention, such as object- or feature-related at the sensory level or even higher- level attributes (e.g., relational, affective, or social aspects). Manipulating the type of informative cue (e.g., a centrally presented symbol, salient transient stimulus, or partial reinstatement of a learned feature within the scene) may reveal distinct modulatory attention functions within retrieval. Varying the onset time of cues relative to the scene context and probe array will further help chart the dynamics of attention functions that can influence long- term memory. For example, multiple automatic and controlled modulatory processes may run in parallel and have different behavioral and neural consequences (e.g., van Ede et al., 2020). Furthermore, it will be exciting to extend the experimental approach to dynamic scene contexts (e.g., Staudigl & Hanslmayr, 2013), in which it will also be possible to orient attention to the temporal attributes of events (e.g., Cravo et al., 2017). Furthermore, it is possible to test how the attributes of the long-term memories interact with attention functions. For example, the degree of item similarity impacts their competition during encoding and retrieval (Hutchinson et al., 2016; Kuhl et al., 2011; Wimber et al., 2015). By manipulating different types of item similarity (e.g., spatial proximity or sensory similarity), it will be interesting to test whether the strength of attention effects depends on the degree of competition, as it does in sensory (Kastner & Ungerleider, 2001; Mitchell et al., 2009) and working-memory (Ahmad et al., 2017; Shapiro & Miller, 2011) domains. In addition to the qualities of the associations, their strength and age may also matter. By using separate Learning tasks, the experimenter gains control over these parameters. 4.4.
Thus, even when reliable FAR differences are obtained, it remains unclear which magnitude of these differences accurately reflects the criterion shift underlying the strength effect. (1990) and the divergent patterns recently reported by C&G (2024a, 2024b, 2025a, 2025b), an important open question is how many strength manipulations, implemented across how many recognition-memory experiments, are required to establish the “true” magnitude and direction of the LSE in a manner that is theoretically diagnostic.
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 · DOIImplications and Next Steps A limitation of this study is that most of the participants were from a single site; however studies comparing performance on licensing exams suggest that educational outcomes are reasonably consistent across institutions in Canada [32]. We did not anticipate the influence of prior domain knowl- edge on the capacity to engage in distinctive processing; we believed that participants who had completed their pro- gram’s course requirements for human cardiovascular anat- omy and physiology would be adequately and equivalently prepared for the experimental task. The finding of signifi- cant differences in distinctive processing engaged by nurs- ing versus medical students proved this assumption wrong. However, this finding yielded an important insight: There may be an interaction between knowledge level and the capacity to engage in distinctive processing, and to benefit from distinctive processing of prior knowledge if, indeed, there is any benefit of distinctive processing to future learn- ing. Another limitation of the study is that both versions of the test were created by one author. While the author does have the relevant expertise, further external validation of the appropriateness of the items may have been warranted. Although the primary aim of this study was to determine if competitive test items elicited more distinctive process- ing than non-competitive items, we left unexplored the Educators and test developers will likely benefit from our findings that test items with competitive response options appear to elicit higher-order cognitive processing and not merely factual recall. To further explore whether item-spe- cific processing benefits participants’ new learning, future research in this realm could include an assessment of the effect of testing prior knowledge on learning novel material.
Testing that Makes You Think: Development of a Basic Science Test to Promote Future Clinical Learning · 2026 · DOIAbstract Previous studies have reported that soft haptic sensations influence higher‐order cognition, but few studies have investigated effects of soft haptic sensations on the recall of episodic memories.
There is relatively little known about the extent to which adults extract semantic content, beyond factual recall, from naturalistic educational experiences.
Abstract Background Imagery Rescripting (ImRs) is a promising intervention to reduce symptoms associated with aversive memories, but little is known about its working mechanisms.
Psychological and Physiological Effects of Imagery Rescripting for Aversive Autobiographical Memories · 2021 · DOIBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: For many psychotherapies, like Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, there is an ongoing discussion about the role of specific versus non-specific mechanisms in their effectiveness However, experimental research directly examining the potential role of non-specific mechanisms is scarce.
Verbal suggestions fail to modulate expectations about the effectiveness of a laboratory model of EMDR therapy: Results of two preregistered studies · 2021 · DOI1 There he defended his inability to correctly identify the elder Moser's condition (rather baldly stated to her daughter as "unconscious hatred for her two children") because at that point he "didn't know anything," having not yet understood the workings of the "hidden psyche" (Tögel, 1999, p.
Whereas previous adversarial collaborations have produced single research articles, here, we share our experience in programmatic, extended adversarial collaboration involving three laboratories in different countries with different theoretical views regarding working memory, the limited information retained in mind, serving ongoing thought and action.
Future research is needed to understand how to best measure patient memory for treatment contents, and the mediators, moderators, and dissemination potential of the MSI.
Patient Memory for Psychological Treatment Contents: Assessment, Intervention, and Future Directions for a Novel Transdiagnostic Mechanism of Change · 2019 · DOICharles, Mather, and Carstensen (2003) reported that older adults preferentially remember positive items, but this age-related "positivity effect" has not been replicated consistently.
Yet it remains unclear whether different feature dimensions have their own capacity limits, or whether they compete for shared but limited resources in VWM.
After reviewing literature that shows how prior knowledge can support remembering in aging as well as lead it astray, we consider open questions including whether prior knowledge is used only to fill in the gaps after a memory failure and when older adults might need to be instructed to apply their prior knowledge.
However, direct comparisons between overt and covert retrieval are scarce: Does covert retrieval-thinking of but not producing responses-on a first test produce the same benefit as overt retrieval on a criterial test given later? We report 4 experiments that address this issue by comparing retention on a second test following overt or covert retrieval on a first test.
These findings support the counterintuitive notion that recognition memory impairments in this memory-impaired population are not characterized by forgetting but rather are driven by the failure to differentiate perceptually similar objects, leading to the false recognition of novel objects as having been seen before.
The strength of association between items and context is limited by the number of items simultaneously occupying the buffer (Lehman & Malmberg, 2009).
In understanding how collaboration impairs group recall and enhances shared, or collective, memories it remains unknown as to where collaboration exerts the greatest influence—at encoding or at retrieval—to shape these distinct phenomena.
Learning and Remembering with Others: The Key Role of Retrieval in Shaping Group Recall and Collective Memory · 2012 · DOIHowever, a major gap in research is that the models have not been tested on their ability to provide a theoretical account of RTs and other aspects of performance in the classic Sternberg (1966) short-term memory-scanning paradigm, perhaps the most venerable of all recognition-RT tasks.
In an effort to reconcile these conflicting results, Barrett (2008) has made a comprehensive attempt in presenting a formal system for quantifying counter – intuitiveness including a distinction between counter-intuitive and counter-schematic concepts.
Most-cited papers in Memory Processes and Influences
- The effect of testing versus restudy on retention: A meta-analytic review of the testing effect. · Psychological Bulletin · 2014 · 824 citations
- On the status of inhibitory mechanisms in cognition: Memory retrieval as a model case. · Psychological Review · 1995 · 532 citations
- The information that amnesic patients do not forget. · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 1984 · 377 citations
- Emotional Arousal and Memory Binding: An Object-Based Framework · Perspectives on Psychological Science · 2007 · 326 citations
- Repeated testing produces superior transfer of learning relative to repeated studying. · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 2010 · 278 citations
- Short-term memory for serial order: A recurrent neural network model. · Psychological Review · 2006 · 256 citations
- Event Perception and Memory · Annual Review of Psychology · 2020 · 253 citations
- Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming · Applied Cognitive Psychology · 2009 · 242 citations
- The Role of Volition in Organizational Learning: The Case of Automotive Product Recalls · Management Science · 2004 · 226 citations
- Why some colors appear more memorable than others: A model combining categories and particulars in color working memory. · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · 2015 · 217 citations
Most recent work
- Fragmented learning from short videos modulates neural activity and connectivity during memory retrieval · npj Science of Learning · 2026
- Testing that Makes You Think: Development of a Basic Science Test to Promote Future Clinical Learning · Medical Science Educator · 2026
- Are my keys under the couch, or in my car? Enactment during learning benefits retrieval of object locations in forced-choice recognition memory. · JoCN Forum · 2026
- Experimentally-induced encoding variability influences mnemonic discrimination: Evidence from human behavioral data and global matching models · bioRxiv · 2026
- Aging and false memories: Comparing effects of item-relatedness and list position · bioRxiv · 2026
- When not remembering is memorable: Personal distinctiveness explains a strength-based misprediction in recognition with repeated tests. · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · 2026
- EEG evidence that negative images generate increased neural recapitulation early during memory retrieval · 2026
- Electrophysiological evidence for forward and backward time-based search through episodic memory · JoCN Forum · 2026
- ERP Evidence that Disfluency is Resolved by Longer Prime Exposure during Recognition Memory · JoCN Forum · 2026
- Emotion as a factor of episodic content to predict vividness of memories · JoCN Forum · 2026
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