Theses - Department of Psychology

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https://hdl.handle.net/11693/13793

Faculty of Economics, Administrative And Social Sciences

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Open Access
Are our memory predictions absolute or relative? : The effect of comparison on memory judgments
(Bilkent University, 2016-12) Karademir, Derya; Besken, Miri
The effect of divided attention on memory is well documented. However, its effects on memory predictions are not known. One of the aims of the present study was to investigate whether divided attention affects memory performance and prospective memory predictions. The other aim of the current study was to investigate whether people take into consideration the list composition while making memory predictions. In other words, in this study, we investigated whether the effect of divided attention on memory judgments is relative or absolute. In order to investigate these aims, we conducted two experiments. In both experiments, three separate groups were used in the study. One group only studied words under full attention instructions. The other group of participants studied words under divided attention instructions. A third group experienced both divided attention and full attention conditions in a mixed list. Then, these three groups were compared in terms of their actual memory and predicted memory performance. The results revealed no significant difference among these groups in terms of actual memory performance and memory predictions. The results were discussed in terms of findings, limitations and future suggestions.
Open Access
Autonomy and robotonomy: The role of gender
(Bilkent University, 2023-06) Aşkın, Gaye; Ürgen, Ayşe Burcu
This study examines how gender affects people's perception of autonomy in social robots. It investigates whether an agent's name (masculine/feminine/neutral/ technical/no-name) and type (human/robot) can impact agency, personification, competency, and gender evaluations and whether these evaluations are at an unconscious level. The study consists of a pre-study and a main study with 150 participants. Participants watched 4-second 18 videos in the main study and answered autonomy-related questions. They also completed three implicit association tasks, adapted according to the study's themes, autonomy, agents, and gender. ANOVA analysis was conducted to analyze the agent, naming, and gender effects for the explicit part. The d-score was calculated for all participants in the implicit part, and an ANOVA analysis was conducted. Regression analysis was conducted to determine gender attribution in the pre-study and main studies. Correlation analyses were also conducted to determine if explicit-implicit parts were correlated. Lastly, a thematic analysis was conducted for qualitative inputs in the explicit part and categorized into nine themes. The study found the main effect of action and agent in agency-level attribution. In competency and gender attribution, agents had no main effect in none of the name conditions. In the implicit part, women and men participants differed in men-independent/women-dependent association IAT-1. The other two IATs, women and men participants, responded similarly. The study suggests that name manipulation does not affect people's autonomy perception, but rather agent types and actions characteristics affect them. Furthermore, people's implicit and explicit answers do not predict each other.
Open Access
“Because she is a know-it-all”: school-aged children’s understanding of calibration for hesitant informants
(Bilkent University, 2023-07) Sunay, Onur; Allen, Jedediah W.P.
Calibration refers to the extent to which one’s confidence predicts their accuracy. Accordingly; someone accurate and confident, and someone inaccurate and hesitant are well-calibrated; and someone inaccurate and confident, and someone accurate but hesitant are poorly calibrated. Although there is evidence of adults’ calibration understanding, children do not have a complete understanding of calibration. The current study aimed to investigate children’s calibration understanding better. To that end, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-old children were tested on three calibration tasks with informants that included the inaccurate and hesitant informant. The tasks included explicit and implicit measures of calibration. The results showed that children performed similarly across all ages, but there were differences in how children performed between different tasks. Also, accuracy had more influence on children’s judgments for who was a reliable informant than confidence. Third, more children passed the implicit calibration task but failed the explicit one than vice versa. Lastly, children’s calibration understanding was not related to their executive function (EF) abilities. These results suggest that calibration is a complex ability influenced by social situations. The role situations play and how they might be used as a broader framework to explain calibration are highlighted in the discussion. EF and other cognitive abilities that might be related to calibration understanding are also discussed.
Open Access
The contribution of perceptual disfluency in auditory and visual modalities to actual and predicted memory performance
(Bilkent University, 2020-01) Ardıç, Ecem Eylül; Besken, Miri
Research has shown that perceptual disfluencies may affect both actual and predicted memory performance. However, the contribution of perceptual disfluency in multiple modalities to actual and predicted memory has not been investigated and different perceptual modalities may affect these variables to varying extents. The current study investigated how disfluency in visual and auditory modalities may influence actual and predicted memory performance. In a set of three experiments, participants were presented with food recipes in visual and auditory modalities through short clips and were asked to remember these recipes for a later memory test. They also made judgments about the memorability of clips during encoding. The clips were presented in an intact form in visual and auditory modalities, or were distorted in one or both of the modalities. Experiment 1 used a within-subjects design with four study-test cycles, where participants were exposed four complete food recipes. Results revealed that only the distortions in the auditory modality lowered participants’ memory predictions. Experiment 2 used a between-subjects design, in which participants were continually exposed to the same type of perceptual fluency/disfluency condition. This type of design failed to influence memory predictions. For Experiment 3, unique and unrelated steps from different food recipes were selected to eliminate the effect of logical order between items. When the logical order was eliminated, both visual and auditory disfluencies lowered participants’ JOLs, but auditory disfluency affected JOLs more than visual disfluency. Actual memory performance remained unaffected in all three experiments. This study demonstrated that distortions in both modalities jointly affect the JOLs, even though distortions in auditory modality seem to be more effective. The results are discussed in the light of the perceptual fluency hypothesis as well as the use of multiple cues in making memory predictions. When more than one perceptual cue is used, one of the cues might outweigh the other cue under certain conditions.
Open Access
Detailed investigation of the relation between mothers’ mental state language and children's theory of mind abilities
(Bilkent University, 2022-07) Evsen, Setenay; Ilgaz, Hande
This study investigated the relation between maternal mental state language (MSL) in a storytelling context and preschoolers’ Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities. Seventy-four Turkish-speaking mothers’ mental state discourse was examined with a comprehensive coding of mental content (i.e., perception, physiological, desire, motivation, emotion, and cognition) at both lexical and morphological levels by marking the referents of each mental use (i.e., child-mother vs. story character). In addition, to distinguish the uses of perception terms as attention getters or genuine mental state references, a coding for perception words in terms of function was included. The results revealed that only certain functions of mothers’ perception MSL was related to children’s ToM performance. In particular, mothers’ use of perception MSL to give the literal meaning of the terms predicted children’s ToM performance concurrently when children’s cognitive abilities and age was controlled for. Results were discussed from a socio-cultural perspective to emphasize the importance of coding the pragmatic aspects of maternal MSL for a better understanding of ToM development in relation to language.
Open Access
Detailed investigation of Turkish children’s diverse belief task performance
(Bilkent University, 2022-12) Öztürk Mıhcı, İrem; Ilgaz, Hande
This study investigated Turkish children’s Diverse Belief (DB) task performance, which is one of the tasks in Theory of Mind (ToM) battery. Previous literature found that Turkish children underperformed on the DB task when compared to children from other cultures. In addition, Turkish children did not show the expected age-related increase in the DB task performance, and Turkish children’s DB performance was not related to the other ToM tasks and cognitive variables such as EF. Therefore, the aim was to examine whether the difficulty in the DB task is related to the task structure for Turkish children. The DB task performances and the EF skills of 45 Turkish-speaking children aged between 3 and 5 were assessed. The DB task was manipulated in terms of mental state verbs (e.g., think, guess, and no mental states) and the number of characters in the story (e.g., single, and double seekers). Results showed that Turkish children were not affected by the differences in mental state verbs, but the number of characters in the story affected performance. Children were more successful in the double-seeker conditions when the task was presented with the verb “think” (düşün- in Turkish). In the light of these results, it is possible to infer that the problems regarding Turkish children’s DB performance may be related to the curse of belief rather than Turkish children’s conceptual deficiency in belief understanding.
Open Access
The development of trust judgements about lie-tellers during middle childhood
(Bilkent University, 2021-06) Bahar, Aslı Yasemin; Allen, Jedediah Wilfred Papas
This thesis investigates children's trust evaluations for lie-tellers across three ages (7-,9-, and 11-year-olds) and a number of social situations. A total of 145 primary school children were tested on a Lie-Telling Evaluation Task (LET), created by the researchers, and classical interpretive ToM tasks. Lie-Telling Evaluation Task (LET) included eight short stories in which the protagonist lied. Half of the stories involved a culturally-appropriate lie, whereas the other half showcased a self-oriented lie: The participants were asked to rate their reliability and emotional trust towards the protagonist. Parents' general parenting styles and lie-telling behavior towards their children for instrumental purposes during preschool was investigated. The analysis focused on children's trust evaluations on three lie scenarios: avoiding punishment, avoiding shame, and being polite. Results indicated that children reported all lie-tellers as untrustworthy, yet lie scenario had a significant effect on trust judgements. There was also an interaction of lie scenario and age such that children's trust evaluations for a protagonist lying to avoid punishment and to be polite decreased with age while children's trust evaluations for a protagonist lying to avoid shame increased. Children' s total ToM abilities, parenting styles and parents' instrumental use of threat lies were not related to children's trust for the above three scenarios. However, parents' instrumental use of threat lies towards their children indirectly affected the influence of children's overall ToM performance on their trust evaluations for lie-tellers lying to avoid punishment.
Open Access
The dimples of Venus: an adaptive morphological trait of physical attractiveness
(Bilkent University, 2017-07) Flores, Jonathon Albert; Al-Shawaf, Laith
This thesis documents a series of studies investigating the Dimples of Venus (DOV) as a physically attractive fitness-relevant cue in mating contexts. Judgments of attractiveness across four studies were measured through forced-choice tasks and ratings of attractiveness. Cross-cultural data was attained between The United States of America and Turkey. Results indicate that men consistently prefer the DOV on women whereas women hold a weaker preference for the DOV on men. The sexdifferentiated preference may be linked to pregnancy fitness-benefits in women since the DOV are linked to underlying biological structures related to spinal health and stability for carrying heavy loads, such as offspring.
Open Access
Does distance affect memory predictions by activating beliefs about perceptual fluency
(Bilkent University, 2016-06) Elibüyük, Esra; Besken, Miri
People predict their future memory performance to be better for the perceptually fluent stimuli than for the disfluent ones. For instance, their memory confidence is higher for the words written in large fonts than small fonts (Rhodes and Castel, 2008). This effect was previously believed to stem from experiential difficulty in encoding of the disfluent stimuli. However, a recent study showed that, one’s beliefs and theories, rather than experiential difficulty, make the major contribution to the effect of perceptual fluency on people’s memory predictions (Mueller, Dunlosky, Tauber and Rhodes, 2014). The close relationship between spatial distance and perceptual fluency increases the likelihood that spatial distance affects people’s memory predictions in the absence of experiential difficulty. The present study investigated the effect of perceived spatial distance on people’s judgments of learning (JOLs) and actual memory performance in two experiments. The perceived spatial distance of stimuli was manipulated by showing the stimuli at either top or bottom positions on a scene with depth perspective. At the same time, the depth cue was expected to produce physical size illusion enabling comparing the effects of perceived spatial distance and perceived size on JOLs. Results revealed no effect of perceived spatial distance or perceived size on JOLs and memory performance when tested with words (Experiment 1) or objects (Experiment 2). The null results for perceived size and JOLs were believed to stem from the size differences within the stimuli.
Open Access
Effect of Covid-19 infection on the developing brain: psychosis proneness and working memory activation
(Bilkent University, 2022-08) Sozan, Sara Sinem; Toulopoulou, Timothea
Researchers have been investigating the effects of Covid-19 infection since late 2019. Symptoms caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus varied from respiratory system failure to fatigue, brain fog and headaches. Studies showed that the infection leads to cognitive impairment and psychotic-like symptoms even after recovery. Literature has focused on hospitalized adult patients, and there is less information on how the developing brain exposed to the virus is affected. To address these gaps in the literature we investigated whether Covid-19 can be a risk factor for psychosis in adolescents and young adults. Forty individuals who were infected with Covid-19 and recovered at least two and at most four months before and 36 demographically matched controls were recruited in the study. Positive PCR test results confirmed the infection status of the participants. Subclinical psychosis was assessed using the Community Assessment of Psychic Experience (CAPE-42) questionnaire and the Structured Interview of Schizotypy - Revised (SIS-R) was used to assess psychotic-like symptoms. A functional magnetic resonance imaging was conducted during a well-known working memory task to investigate activation patterns. The working memory task involved seven tasks and a control motor task. Verbal fluency performance was assessed in both phonetic and semantic categories. In order to control for the confounding effects of additional environmental risk factors for psychosis, paternal age, years of urban upbringing, cannabis exposure, and ethnicity were also considered. The findings revealed that although the two groups did not differ across different dimensions of the CAPE-42, the infected group had higher restricted affect and referential thoughts of being watched. Individuals infected with SARS-Cov-2 performed worse in both categories of the verbal fluency task. fMRI analysis revealed that individuals infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus showed activation differences in the prefrontal cortex, medial temporal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal gyrus. Higher performance in the verbal fluency task predicted greater activation during the working memory task. These results suggest that exposure to the Covid-19 infection during brain development can be an environmental risk factor for psychosis.
Open Access
The effect of early life stress on brain white matter integrity and working memory performance
(Bilkent University, 2019-08) Arslan, Seda; Toulopoulou, Timothea
Former studies revealed that exposure to early life adversity is correlated with alterations in the white matter structure, particularly, in the areas associated with executive functioning and memory. Those alterations include both volume and microstructural white matter integrity reductions in the brain. A vast amount of the studies focused on volume reductions, and it is not clear whether the alterations in the white matter integrity is associated with cognitive functioning. The current study investigated the influence of early life stress on white matter integrity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)and corpus callosum (CC) among the forty-six healthy participants. Participants were split into two groups based on the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA.Q). Participants with relatively low early life stress were compared with participants with relatively high early life stress on fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values in the ACC and CC. Another analysis investigated the working memory performance of the participants in the n-back task. Findings revealed that low-level early life stress did not significantly differ from high-level of early life stress in terms of FA values. However, there were significantly higher MD values in the high-level early life stress group compared to low-level early life stress group. In terms of cognitive performance, there were no performance differences between the two groups on the n-back task. The findings suggest that the high level of early life stress is associated with subtle white matter integrity changes in the brain but does not affect the performance.
Open Access
The effect of maternal mental state talk on preschool children’s theory of mind abilities
(Bilkent University, 2016-05) Bozbıyık, Bahar; Ilgaz, Hande
This study investigates the relation between maternal mental state expressions during story book reading and 3- to 5-year-old Turkish speaking children’s theory of mind (ToM) abilities. Thirty-two children completed ToM, executive functions, and standardized language tasks. Following these, parents read a wordless picture book to their children. Mothers’ mental state languages were coded in 3 levels of structural complexity: the word, the morphological, and the clause levels. At the word level we coded for the frequency and the diversity of mental state words (i.e., perception, physiological states, motivation/intention, desire, affect, cognitive, contrastive). At the morphological level we coded for modality for volitional wishes (-se, -sa) and modality for volitional suggestions (-e, -a). Mental state words with their subcategories were coded in accordance with their referents: (1) the child, the mother, or others (MSW-CMO) (2) story characters (MSW-SC). At the sentence level we coded for mental state causal explanations under two categories: (1) Explicit explanations and (2) Implicit Explanations. Results revealed that mothers’ total MSW was related to children’s ToM after controlling for strong predictors. Additionally, frequency of total MSW-CMO, cognitive-CMO, perception-CMO, perception-SC, and total perception word uses were correlated with children’s ToM. Furthermore, while cognitive words positively predicted children’ ToM, explanations for cognitive words negatively predicted children’s ToM. In line with correlational results that emphasize the role of perception words, an analysis that investigated the effects of perception, cognitive, and contrastive words found that the aggregate frequency of these categories predicted children’ ToM. Lastly, only mothers’ cognitive-CMO predicted children’s ToM.
Open Access
The effect of orientation-related prior probability information on contrast perception
(Bilkent University, 2019-07) Nazlı, İlayda; Boyacı, Hüseyin
It is known that visual perception is the product of sensory input and prior probability information. Previous studies support well that expectation influence recognition and decision-making; however, we have limited knowledge about how expectation influences low level visual processing. In the current study, we examine the effect of expectation on early visual processing. That is, we provide task-irrelevant expectation cue related to the orientation of target Gabor grating, and we ask participants to indicate the spatial location of target grating while systematically manipulating its contrast level. In addition, we examine how different expectation validities (i.e. 75%, 50%, 100%) and neutral expectation cue affect visual perception. In Experiment 1, where the orientation of expectation cue and target gratings are vertical or horizontal, contrast threshold is lower in congruent trials at 75% validity condition. In Experiment 2, where the orientation of cue grating implies specific range (i.e. ±15 around 0 or 90), contrast threshold is lower in congruent trials at 75% and 50% validity condition. In Experiment 3B, where the orientation of expectation cue and target Gabor grating are within wider range (i.e. ±30 around 0 or 90), contrast threshold is lower in congruent trials at 75% validity condition. In Experiment 3A, where the orientation of expectation cue and target Gabor grating are within a specific range (i.e. ±15 around 0 or 90) contrast threshold is lower in congruent trials at 75% and 50% validity condition. In Experiment 3B, where the orientation of expectation cue and target Gabor grating are within wider range (i.e. ±30 around 0 or 90), contrast threshold is lower in congruent trials at 75% validity condition.
Open Access
The effect of perceptual fluency on accurate, false and predicted memory performance
(Bilkent University, 2020-06) Yüksel, Ezgi Melisa; Besken, Miri
The retrieval of memories does not reflect the exact copy of the original event and may include false information. Studies show that people become more susceptible to false memories due to post-event misinformation. One factor that might make the retrieval of the original event more problematic is the perceptual fluency of the information. If participants cannot clearly see the event, they might have an increased potential to integrate more false memories from the post-event knowledge. Finally, participants’ predictions during encoding about how they will remember the original event might change, depending on the perceptual fluency, ease, and clarity of experiencing the original event. The current study aimed to examine the effects of perceptual fluency on accurate, false, and predicted memories. In three sets of experiments, participants were presented with picture stories, either in a fluent or disfluent form in a within-subjects design in the encoding phase. In the post-event misinformation phase, participants saw all the stories that they saw in the encoding phase again in a fluent format, with some of the details changed. At the test phase, participants’ actual and false memories were measured through a forced-choice recognition test with three-choices: correct, misinformation, and foil. In Experiment 1, participants were also asked to rate their future memory performance through Judgments of Learning (JOLs). In Experiments 2 and 3, JOLs were not collected to control JOLs’ reactivity. Additionally, in Experiment 3, the possible effect of guess responses was controlled. The results of three experiments revealed that there was a consistency between predicted and actual memory for the disfluent items: participants’ JOLs and memory performances were lower for the disfluent images than the fluent images. Participants showed a tendency to choose misinformation over the unrelated choice (i.e., foil), indicating that the misinformation manipulation increased the susceptibility to false memory. Contrary to predicted and actual memory, the disfluent or fluent presentation did not make any significant difference in the rate of false memories (susceptibility to misinformation). The results were in line with the perceptual fluency hypothesis and false memory literature.
Open Access
Effect of prior knowledge on the illusory truth effect and memory and metacognitive processes underlying this illusion
(Bilkent University, 2021-07) Gizem, Filiz; Besken, Miri
Repeated information typically produces higher truth ratings than novel information. This is called the illusory truth effect. Since this illusion can be obtained with various research materials, the repetition of the information is considered as the driving force of the illusion rather than the content, but whether the effect depends on familiarity or recollection is controversial. The present study aimed to investigate how the novelty of the content may also contribute to this effect through familiarity versus recollection. In a series of three experiments, participants were presented with categorical information about novel pseudowords in an initial phase. Then, they were presented with either congruent or incongruent details about the category of the items. It was hypothesized that if familiarity drives the effect, just the mere repetition should increase truth ratings for all old items. Experiment 1 showed that the mere repetition of some cues from previously studied category statements did not produce the illusory truth effect. In Experiment 2, an additional phase of retrieval practice to teach the categorical information about the pseudowords produced a robust illusory truth effect. The results of Experiment 2 showed that when participants learned new information effectively, they made truth assessments by considering the congruence of the semantic details they remembered with existing statements. Experiment 3 aimed to understand how the time interval affects familiarity and recollection processes within the framework of the current research. Contrary to the results of previous studies, Experiment 3 did not find a pattern in which recollection turned into familiarity over time, but the illusory truth effect persisted over time. The results and future work are discussed in the context of referential theory and the illusory truth effect literature.
Open Access
The effect of repeated exposure, picture presence and context reinstatement on truth judgments
(Bilkent University, 2022-09) Kurt, Elif Hilal; Besken, Miri
With the spread of fake news on social media platforms, it becomes critical to unveil the factors that might influence our truth judgments. Previous research showed that repeated exposure and picture presence can bias individuals to believe that the information is true. However, when frequent social media postings are taken into consideration, there are three issues that need to be specified further in order to understand the underlying mechanisms of our truth judgments. The first is to investigate whether repeated exposure of pictures increases truth ratings or not. Second, it is important to uncover the joint effects of repetition and picture presence on truth judgments as it can be frequently seen in social media postings. Third, little is known about how a detail change (e.g., accompanying picture) in repeated information is reflected on truth judgments. In a series of three experiments, we aimed to find an answer for the abovementioned questions. In Experiment 1, we tested whether prior exposure to pictures would increase truth ratings for the associated statements. The repetition of pictures did not increase truth ratings but their mere presence did. In Experiment 2, we explored the simultaneous effect of repetition and picture presence on truth judgments. Contrary to Experiment 1, repetition of statements increased truth ratings but the presence of pictures did not produce a significant change. Finally, Experiment 3 aimed to understand whether a context change (e.g., picture details) in the repeated information would affect truth ratings or not. As a manipulation, either a detail was changed in the accompanying picture (changed context) or it was repeatedly exposed with the same picture (reinstated context). The results showed that statements with reinstating context were given higher truth ratings than statements with changed context. The results and the future research are discussed in the context of the truthiness effect, the illusory truth effect and the context reinstatement.
Open Access
The effect of text coherence on metacognitive judgments
(Bilkent University, 2018-08) Ersen, Ezgi; Besken, Miri
Text coherence has an important influence on measures of learning and memory performance. The more coherent the texts are, the easier they are learned and remembered in subsequent memory tests. Moreover, studies also reveal that participants believe that they will remember coherent texts better than incoherent texts. Yet, some of precautions that are taken to ensure that participants are paying attention to the texts such as verification questions may confound memory predictions. In the current study, the effects of timing of verification questions on memory predictions for texts were investigated. Participants were presented with coherent or incoherent texts, followed by memory predictions. Participants also received simple verification questions about text either before or after their memory predictions. In the testing phase, they were given a cued – recall task. The results of the study revealed that timing of verification question did not have an influence on memory predictions. On the other hand, coherent texts led to faster reading time, higher JOL ratings and better memory performance than incoherent texts.
Open Access
The effects of mindfulness based yoga intervention on preschoolers’ self-regulation ability
(Bilkent University, 2019-07) Önoğlu Yıldırım, Eda; Allen, Jedediah Wilfred Papas
This thesis taps into one of the significant developments that has effects on children’s academic and social life; self-regulation. Children develop this ability from early childhood to middle childhood. Research has shown that this ability can be enhanced via appropriate interventions and the current study uses mindfulness based yoga as a way to enhance preschoolers’ self-regulation ability. To have a comprehensive measure of self-regulation, a child battery was developed by the researchers. This battery includes tasks that measure cognitive flexibility, interference control, working memory, motor control, and delay of gratification. In addition to this child battery, mother and teacher reported executive function (EF) scales were used. The intervention was conducted with 45 preschoolers; of these; 24 were in the yoga group and 21 were in the waitlist control group. The intervention group of children took yoga 2 times a week for 12 weeks for a total of 15 hours of yoga per child. Both in pre-test and post-test children were tested and the intervention and waitlist control groups were compared with one another. Results of the child battery has shown that children who were in the yoga group performed better on working memory but none of the other aspects of EF that were measured revealed a difference. Teachers reported no difference between the two groups. Lastly, mothers evaluated that the two groups were different in terms of positive affect such that children in the yoga group were evaluated as higher.
Open Access
Effects of operational sex ratio on sexual misperception
(Bilkent University, 2017-06) Demirci, Dilara Ekin; Al-Shawaf, Laith
The current thesis investigates the operational sex ratio of the environment and its effects on people’s accuracy in evaluating the sex and commitment intent of others. We conducted a speed meeting experiment in Ihsan Doğramacı Bilkent University’s Psychology Laboratory (N=260), where both men and women evaluated their partner’s sexual intent towards them. Results showed a difference between sexes in the error types they made when they evaluated sexual intent. We did not observe any effect of operational sex ratio between experimental groups. We discuss possible reasons for the absence of this effect and directions for future research.
Open Access
The effects of type of retrieval on predicted and actual memory performance for an episodic lie-generation paradigm
(Bilkent University, 2020-08) Eroğlu, Gamze Nur; Besken, Miri
Intentional generation of lies is a widely studied topic that has attracted attention over the last two decades. However, the memory for one’s intentional lies has not been studied thoroughly. Some studies suggest that deceptive answers intrude into one’s memory as false memories, however, most of the time, the results come from different types of paradigms with different types of retrieval tests. Theoretically, one factor that can potentially change memory of one’s lies might be the type of retrieval that they have to engage in. The current study investigated how using different types of retrieval such as free-recall, cued-recall as well as source and destination recognition may change both actual and predicted memory for lies and the truth. In a set of 3 experiments, participants were asked to tell the truth or tell a lie in the encoding phase, followed by their confidence rate in remembering the items in a subsequent memory test. At test, participants had to recall the answers to the questions through cued-recall (Experiment 1), free-recall (Experiment 2) or source and destination recognition (Experiment 3). Experiments 1 and 2 showed that according to response latencies, lying was more difficult than telling the truth. This difficulty was not reflected in participants’ predictions, truthful and deceptive answers were predicted to be remembered equally well. Actual memory performance differed across experiments: truthful answers were remembered more in Experiment 1, and deceptive answers were remembered more in Experiment 2. The results imply that the type of retrieval may change the pattern of actual memory performance between truth and lies, even though this is not reflected in memory predictions during encoding. Experiment 3 investigated whether lying would be influenced by the contextual information, associated with retrieval type by using a source and destination retrieval task. Participants were asked to tell truthful or deceptive information to the people on the screen, or receive truthful or deceptive information from the people on the screen. Results revealed that participants were able to recognize the faces from whom they received information more than the faces they told information to, regardless of the accuracy of the information. The results are discussed with processing fluency hypothesis and source monitoring framework.