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Open research questions in Memory Processes and Influences

773 gap statements mined from Memory Processes and Influences papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,829 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The Ranschburg effect has been proposed as a low priority benchmark (Oberauer, 2018) 996 due to its lack of replication in other domains.

    Ranschburg unrepeated. · 2026 · DOI

  • These results lead us to reconsider the importance of the effect when modeling WM, as it is not a constant effect and may only appear under specific conditions, which remain to be determined.

    Ranschburg unrepeated. · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should investigate the extent to which viewer perspective impacts one’s susceptibility to endorsing misinformation. Researchers could manipulate the perspective from which participants are directed to focus on different aspects of the scenario.

    Assessing the effects of misleading postevent information using multinomial processing tree models. · 2026 · DOI

  • To further increase statistical power and reduce methodological heterogeneity, future work should employ a fully unified assessment of learning performance.

    Auditory short-term memory affects earlier but not later learning phases: An individual differences study on predictors of word form acquisition. · 2026 · DOI

  • 5 | Limitations and Future Directions A primary limitation of the present study is the absence of a direct behavioral measure of learning that would allow us to corroborate LPC effects observed during comprehension with subsequent memory outcomes.

    Late Positive Potentials as an Index of “Desirably Difficult” Learning Processes Engaged During Language Comprehension: ERP Evidence From Studies of Domain Knowledge · 2026 · DOI

  • Future work should examine whether exercise influences RIF under conditions of greater interference, longer retention intervals, or increased retrieval difficulty. Combining acute exercise with measures of cardiorespiratory fitness or neurophysiological markers may clarify boundary conditions under which exercise modulates forgetting.

    Temporal effects of exercise on retrieval-induced forgetting · 2026 · DOI

  • However, since a capacity sharing view would also assume worse performance in incongruent trials at short SOA compared to long SOA in both tasks, which we did not observe, alternative explanations like overlapping central processing codes and preparatory limitations remain to be explored.

    Visual-manual response selection produces dual-task interference in auditory-verbal memory encoding · 2026 · DOI

  • Second, previous studies have found that the influence of emotion on retrieval practice effect may vary depending on the formats of the retrieval practice, so future research could explore that whether the effects generalize to other retrieval practice formats such as cued recall or free recall tests.

    The effect of retrieval practice on incidental memory is modulated by emotional valence: evidence of ERPs · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies could address this issue more directly by cueing the relevant source dimension before stimulus onset or by using separate retrieval blocks that require modality-source versus task-source retrieval.

    Electrophysiological correlates of contextual retrieval following virtual reality and desktop-based encoding · 2026 · DOI

  • Although this literature has primarily focused on retrospective metacognition, future research could examine whether clinical populations show distinct patterns of prospective and retrospective metacognition across global and local conditions. However, a clear neural dissociation between prospective and retrospective metacognition has not yet been established.

    Confidence–performance relationships in prospective and retrospective metacognition across local and global judgments · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of neural evidence for DIF. The separation of voluntary and involuntary control is not well understood. Cross-cultural work is needed to understand the implications of the three forms of forgetting.

    Tracing memory suppression and transformation: interplay of cognitive, neural, and cultural dynamics · 2026 · DOI

  • Future studies could explore whether broadening the scope of retrieval practice—for example, by incorporating both forward and backward navigation during training—could mitigate this negative effect.

    Practice Testing Facilitates Forward Navigation but Undermines Backward Navigation During Map Learning · 2025 · DOI

  • Despite the broad awareness and interest in retrieval practice, it remains under-researched in health professions education. Retrieval practice has clear benefits for health professions education where the transfer of learning to practice is both clear and important, yet there remains limited research to date on how students use retrieval practice for self-regulated learning.

    The Use of Retrieval Practice in the Health Professions: A State-of-the-Art Review · 2025 · DOI

  • Firstly, while this research explored the near transferability of expert memory advantages, future investigations could examine whether bridge experts maintain their memory superiority when dealing with materials outside their domain from a far transfer perspective.

    Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Memory Advantages in Bridge Experts: Based on Suit Categorization and Honor Card Rules · 2025 · DOI

  • Future research should explore a more general relationship between an increase in c, a reduction in parameter q, and the absence of a misinformation effect.

    Assessing the effects of misleading postevent information using multinomial processing tree models. · 2026 · DOI

  • Although the current findings are consistent with both accounts, the paradigm was not specifically designed to disentangle these mechanisms, and thus the relative contributions of these processes remain uncertain.

    Observed actions and their enduring cognitive imprint beyond correction · 2026 · DOI

  • The review also suggests that emotional expression alone provides limited information regarding memory accuracy because observable demeanour may be shaped by contextual, cultural, interpersonal and regulatory influences in addition to memory-related processes.

    Emotion and eyewitness memory: a process-oriented framework for emotional and retrieval dynamics · 2026 · DOI

  • Research on emotional influences on eyewitness memory has produced inconsistent findings, with emotion reported to both impair and selectively enhance memory.

    Emotion and eyewitness memory: a process-oriented framework for emotional and retrieval dynamics · 2026 · DOI

  • However, little is known about these effects among second language learners, a population that is known for engaging less in prediction.

    Reduced false memory effects for predictable words in L2 speakers of German: evidence from self-paced reading and recognition memory · 2025 · DOI

  • The current experiments address a hitherto understudied aspect of memory for values, namely about how neutral and negative valued information is remembered and which processes underly the encoding and retrieval of this information.

    Less Than Zero? · 2025 · DOI

  • So far, no studies have investigated the effect of delayed recall on the Production Effect with children.

    Effects of speech production training on memory across short and long delays in 5- and 6-year-olds: A pre-registered study · 2024 · DOI

  • Research designed to discriminate between these models has provided mixed results.

    Do all subjects fit the same recognition memory model? Comparisons of continuous, discrete, and hybrid models using extended multinomial processing trees. · 2026 · DOI

  • DIF currently lacks robust electrophysiological evidence - Behavioral data alone cannot discriminate among several mechanisms, including inhibition, encoding disruption, response-bias shifts, and later reconstruction - The studies focus entirely on behavioral…

    Tracing memory suppression and transformation: interplay of cognitive, neural, and cultural dynamics · 2026 · DOI

  • The current study identifies a boundary condition that explains prior mixed findings about JOL reactivity with categorized lists, namely, reactivity depends on the level of list organization during encoding.

    Judgments of Learning Reactivity on Item-Specific and Relational Processing · 2024 · DOI

  • In summary, these limitations point to important directions for future research, namely, further investigation of how different types of postlearning activities influence long-term learning outcomes.

    Wakeful rest and memory consolidation in an ecologically valid educational setting: no benefit over distractor tasks · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Memory Processes and Influences

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) Future research should investigate the extent to which viewer perspective impacts one’s susceptibility to endorsing misinformation (“Assessing the effects of misleading postevent information using multinomial…”, 2026); (2) To further increase statistical power and reduce methodological heterogeneity, future work should employ a fully unified assessment of learning performance (“Auditory short-term memory affects earlier but not later learning phases: An…”, 2026); (3) Future work should examine whether exercise influences RIF under conditions of greater interference, longer retention intervals, or increased retrieval difficulty (“Temporal effects of exercise on retrieval-induced forgetting”, 2026); (4) Future studies could address this issue more directly by cueing the relevant source dimension before stimulus onset or by using separate retrieval blocks that require modality-source versus task-source retrieval (“Electrophysiological correlates of contextual retrieval following virtual…”, 2026); (5) A clear neural dissociation between prospective and retrospective metacognition has not yet been established (“Confidence–performance relationships in prospective and retrospective…”, 2026). 773 gap statements have been mined from Memory Processes and Influences papers in our 7.9M-paper local library, which holds 5,829 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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