Could direct and generative retrieval be two flips of the same coin? A dual-task paradigm study

Gatti, Daniele; Somos, Eszter; Mazzoni, Giuliana; Jellema, Tjeerd

Abstract

Autobiographical memories are thought to be retrieved using two possible ways: a generative one, which is effortful and follows a general-to-specific pathway, and a direct one, which is automatic and relatively effortless. These two retrieve processes are known to differ on the quantitative side (especially considering retrieval times), from a qualitative point of view; however, evidence is missing. Here, we aimed to disentangle this question by taking advantage of a dual-task paradigm in which the different tasks tax different executive functions. Participants were asked to perform an autobiographical memory task under three different conditions: no cognitive load, non-visual cognitive load and visual cognitive load. On the quantitative side, results replicated previous findings with generative processes being slower compared with direct ones. Conversely, on the qualitative side, results indicated that the retrieval times of both direct and generative retrieval processes varied similarly according to the dual-task condition, thus supporting the idea that the same memory process could underlie both retrievals.

Citation

Gatti, D., Somos, E., Mazzoni, G., & Jellema, T. (2022). Could direct and generative retrieval be two flips of the same coin? A dual-task paradigm study. Cognitive processing, 23(3), 513-519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-022-01095-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 19, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jun 15, 2022
• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 16, 2023
• Journal: Cognitive Processing
• Print ISSN: 1612-4782
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 513-519
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-022-01095-0
• Keywords: Direct retrieval; Generative retrieval; Autobiographical memory; Divided attention; Visual search task
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4015218