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Lespiau F, Tricot A. Reasoning More Efficiently with Primary Knowledge Despite Extraneous Cognitive Load. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 22:14747049241252694. [PMID: 38840333 PMCID: PMC11155337 DOI: 10.1177/14747049241252694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Geary's evolutionary approach in educational psychology differentiates between primary (low cognitive costs and motivational advantage) and secondary knowledge (high cognitive costs and no motivational benefit). Although these features have been well demonstrated in previous work, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To investigate it, in a reasoning task, the present study varies (i) the content of the problems (primary knowledge vs. secondary; e.g., food vs. grammar rules), (ii) the intrinsic cognitive load (conflict or non-conflict syllogism, the former requiring more cognitive resources to be properly processed than the latter) and (iii) the extraneous cognitive load (via a Dot Memory Task with three modalities: low, medium and high cognitive load). Analyses assessed the influence of these variables on performance, problem solving speed and perceived cognitive load. Results confirmed the positive impact of primary knowledge on efficiency, particularly when intrinsic cognitive load was high. Surprisingly, the extraneous cognitive load did not influence the performance in secondary knowledge content but that in primary knowledge content: the higher the additional load was, the better the performance was, only for primary knowledge and especially for syllogisms with high intrinsic load. Findings support evolutionary theory as secondary knowledge would overload cognitive resources, preventing participants from allocating sufficient resources to solve problems. Primary knowledge would allow participants to process the additional load and to increase their performance despite this. This study also raises the hypothesis that a minimum cognitive load is necessary for participants to be invested in the task.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - André Tricot
- EA 4556 Epsylon Lab, University Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
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2
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de Oliveira ES, do Nascimento ALB, Ferreira Junior WS, Albuquerque UP. Does prestige bias influence the recall and transmission of COVID-19-related information? Protocol registration for an experimental study conducted online. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0281991. [PMID: 36821634 PMCID: PMC9949656 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
In epidemic and pandemic contexts, such as that of COVID-19, epidemiological changes are continuous, and many people do not have access to accurate, up-to-date information. In this context, social learning can be an advantageous survival strategy. We investigate whether people remember and communicate information attributed to someone prestigious more often than that attributed to family members, politicians, and people with experience in public health. The experimental phase will include a recall stage and an information transmission stage, which will be based on a fictitious text containing an opinion about a drug treatment for COVID-19. There will be four versions of the text, and each participant will be assigned one of these versions for the investigation. The participants will be instructed to read the fictional story and then complete a distraction exercise. Subsequently, a recall test will be performed, where they will be asked to recount the story as accurately as possible. The second stage of the experiment is aimed at testing the transmission of information where we will conduct a linear chain transmission experiment, where eight chains of four participants will be used for each story. They will be asked to write down their recollection of the material. This text will undergo spelling error correction and then be sent to the next participant in the chain through the platform. At the end of the experiment, there will be a self-reporting questionnaire for the participants; this allows for triangulation of the data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwine Soares de Oliveira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Etnobiologia e Conservação da Natureza, Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
| | | | | | - Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
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3
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Santos SMP, Fernandes NL, Pandeirada JNS. Same but different: The influence of context framing on subjective disgust, eye movements and pupillary responses. Conscious Cogn 2023; 108:103462. [PMID: 36621056 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The adaptive value of disgust has been associated with situations of threat to our survival. This study explored this topic using eye-tracking, which provides an objective measurement of attention, while solving previous methodological issues (e.g., not considering discrete emotions and comparing across perceptually-different stimuli). We used the same stimuli and manipulated the emotional state via contextual framing. Participants' eye movements and pupillary responses were recorded while they explored pictures of objects held by clean or dirty hands; the latter were framed in a disease or a non-disease context. Pictures were then rated for arousal, disgust, and valence. Framing stimuli in a disease (vs non-disease) context induced a more adverse subjective emotional experience. Importantly, our objective measures revealed that such manipulation also led to a higher information-seeking behavior and greater pupil constriction. Overall, our data suggest that the same stimuli can effectively be used to induce different emotional states by manipulating their framing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sónia M P Santos
- William James Center for Research, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Natália Lisandra Fernandes
- William James Center for Research, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Josefa N S Pandeirada
- William James Center for Research, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
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4
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Thiebaut G, Méot A, Witt A, Prokop P, Bonin P. Pseudo-Contamination and Memory: Is There a Memory Advantage for Objects Touched by "Morphologically Deviant People"? EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022; 9:1-14. [PMID: 36311386 PMCID: PMC9589653 DOI: 10.1007/s40806-022-00345-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 09/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Memory plays an important role in the behavioral immune system (BIS; Schaller in Psychological Inquiry, 17(2), 96-101, 2016a), a proactive immune system whose ultimate function is to make organisms avoid sources of contamination. Indeed, it has been found that objects presented next to sick people are remembered better than objects shown next to healthy people-representing a contamination effect in memory. In the present studies, we investigated this memory effect in relation to "pseudo-contaminated" sources, that is to say, people exhibiting cues ultimately evoking the threat of contamination but objectively posing no such threat in terms of disease transmission. Common objects were shown next to photographs of people having three kinds of morphological deviations-obesity (study 1), scars and burns (study 2), strange eyes (study 3)-or no morphological deviation. Contrary to our expectations, we found that "pseudo-contaminated objects" were not remembered better than "non-contaminated objects," whereas discomfort ratings of the idea of touching the same objects were clearly higher with morphologically deviant people. Memory mechanisms do not seem to be mobilized by "pseudo-contamination" sources which are not directly related to infection risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaëtan Thiebaut
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université de Bourgogne, Pôle AAFE - Esplanade Erasme, BP 26513, Dijon Cedex, 21065 France
| | - Alain Méot
- LAPSCO-CNRS UMR6024, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Arnaud Witt
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université de Bourgogne, Pôle AAFE - Esplanade Erasme, BP 26513, Dijon Cedex, 21065 France
| | - Pavol Prokop
- Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape Management, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Patrick Bonin
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université de Bourgogne, Pôle AAFE - Esplanade Erasme, BP 26513, Dijon Cedex, 21065 France
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5
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Yildirim B, Kurdoglu-Ersoy P, Kapucu A, Tekozel M. Is there an infidelity-based reproductive processing advantage in adaptive memory? Effects of survival processing and jealousy processing on recall performance. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2022.2090948] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bugay Yildirim
- Department of Psychology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
- Department of Psychology, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | | | - Aycan Kapucu
- Department of Psychology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
| | - Mert Tekozel
- Department of Psychology, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
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6
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Silva RH, Moura JMB, Ferreira Júnior WS, Nascimento ALB, Albuquerque UP. Previous Experiences and Regularity of Occurrence in Evolutionary Time Affect the Recall of Ancestral and Modern Diseases. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-022-00325-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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7
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Thiebaut G, Méot A, Witt A, Prokop P, Bonin P. COVID-19 and Memory: A Novel Contamination Effect in Memory. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 20:14747049221108929. [PMID: 35746890 PMCID: PMC10303574 DOI: 10.1177/14747049221108929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The Behavioral Immune System (BIS, Schaller & Park, 2011) is a defense system whose function is to protect against pathogen exposure. Memory is an important component of this system (Fernandes et al., 2017). We investigated "contamination effects" in memory in relation to COVID-19. Photographs of everyday objects were shown to adults (N = 80) in the hands of either a healthy or a contagious person who had contracted SARS-CoV-2. "Contaminated objects" were recalled better than "non-contaminated objects" suggesting that a contamination effect in memory in humans is easily acquired in the absence of apparent visual cues of disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaëtan Thiebaut
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université Bourgogne
Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Alain Méot
- LAPSCO-CNRS UMR6024, Université
Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
| | - Arnaud Witt
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université Bourgogne
Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | - Pavol Prokop
- Department of Environmental Ecology and
Landscape Management, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of
Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Patrick Bonin
- LEAD-CNRS UMR5022, Université Bourgogne
Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
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8
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The Critical Role of Consumers in the Prevention of Foodborne Diseases: An Ethnographic Study of Italian Families. Foods 2022; 11:foods11071006. [PMID: 35407093 PMCID: PMC8997423 DOI: 10.3390/foods11071006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A high incidence of foodborne diseases occurs in the home setting because consumers adopt inappropriate preparation, consumption, and storage procedures. The present study applies an ethnographic approach to identify inadequate practices that could increase the incidence of foodborne diseases. Techniques related to the ethnographic approach were used: participant observation, kitchens mapping, collection of photographic material, and informal interviews in natural settings. A sample of 14 families was involved through the snowball sampling technique. This study identifies habitual practices and routine behaviour as the main risk factors. The inadequacies most frequently encountered related to the microbiological risks are incorrect handwashing, the presence in the kitchen spaces of objects unrelated to food preparation, the improper use of dishcloths and sponges, the inappropriate washing of utensils and food, the incorrect storage of food in the fridge, and the presence of children and pets without an adequate administration of the spaces. The practices that can expose consumers to chemical risk include food preservation through unsuitable containers/materials, food overcooking, and detergents contamination. The data underline the need to implement communicative and training interventions that give precise and targeted indications about correct safety practices in the home setting.
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9
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van Leeuwen F, Inbar Y, Petersen MB, Aarøe L, Barclay P, Barlow FK, de Barra M, Becker DV, Borovoi L, Choi J, Consedine NS, Conway JR, Conway P, Adoric VC, Demirci E, Fernández AM, Ferreira DCS, Ishii K, Jakšić I, Ji T, Jonaityte I, Lewis DMG, Li NP, McIntyre JC, Mukherjee S, Park JH, Pawlowski B, Pizarro D, Prokop P, Prodromitis G, Rantala MJ, Reynolds LM, Sandin B, Sevi B, Srinivasan N, Tewari S, Yong JC, Žeželj I, Tybur JM. Disgust sensitivity relates to attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women across 31 nations. GROUP PROCESSES & INTERGROUP RELATIONS 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/13684302211067151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Previous work has reported a relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice toward various social groups, including gay men and lesbian women. It is currently unknown whether this association is present across cultures, or specific to North America. Analyses of survey data from adult heterosexuals ( N = 11,200) from 31 countries showed a small relation between pathogen disgust sensitivity (an individual-difference measure of pathogen-avoidance motivations) and measures of antigay attitudes. Analyses also showed that pathogen disgust sensitivity relates not only to antipathy toward gay men and lesbians, but also to negativity toward other groups, in particular those associated with violations of traditional sexual norms (e.g., prostitutes). These results suggest that the association between pathogen-avoidance motivations and antigay attitudes is relatively stable across cultures and is a manifestation of a more general relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice towards groups associated with sexual norm violations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Leah Borovoi
- National Institute for Testing and Evaluation, Israel
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - David M. G. Lewis
- College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, and Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Australia
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Pavol Prokop
- Comenius University, Slovakia
- Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
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10
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Nairne JS. Adaptive Education: Learning and Remembering with a Stone-Age Brain. EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2022; 34:2275-2296. [PMID: 35966455 PMCID: PMC9362505 DOI: 10.1007/s10648-022-09696-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Educators generally accept that basic learning and memory processes are a product of evolution, guided by natural selection. Less well accepted is the idea that ancestral selection pressures continue to shape modern memory functioning. In this article, I review evidence suggesting that attention to nature's criterion-the enhancement of fitness-is needed to explain fully how and why people remember. Thinking functionally about memory, and adopting an evolutionary perspective in the laboratory, has led to recent discoveries with clear implications for learning in the classroom. For example, our memory systems appear to be tuned to animacy (the distinction between living and nonliving things) which, in turn, can play a role in enhancing foreign language acquisition. Effective learning management systems need to align with students' prior knowledge, skill, and interest levels, but also with the inherent content biases or "tunings" that are representative of all people.
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Affiliation(s)
- James S. Nairne
- grid.169077.e0000 0004 1937 2197Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA
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11
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Schaller M, Murray DR, Hofer MK. The behavioural immune system and pandemic psychology: the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance and its implications for attitudes, behaviour, and public health during epidemic outbreaks. EUROPEAN REVIEW OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10463283.2021.1988404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Schaller
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T1Z4, Canada
| | - Damian R. Murray
- Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, 70188, United States
| | - Marlise K. Hofer
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, V8W2Y2, Canada
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12
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Guo J, Shubeck K, Hu X. Relationship Between Item and Source Memory: Explanation of Connection-Strength Model. Front Psychol 2021; 12:691577. [PMID: 34659007 PMCID: PMC8511408 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.691577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The controversy in the relationship between item memory and source memory is a focus of episodic memory. Some studies show the trade-off between item memory and source memory, some show the consistency between them, and others show the independence between them. This review attempts to point out the connection-strength model, implying the different types and strengths of the important role of the item-source connections in the relationship between item memory and source memory, which is based on the same essence in the unified framework. The logic of the model is that when item memory and source memory share the same or relevant connection between item and source, they positively connect, or they are independently or negatively connected. This review integrates empirical evidence from the domains of cognition, cognitive neuroscience, and mathematical modeling to validate our hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junjun Guo
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Keith Shubeck
- Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Xiangen Hu
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
- Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- Institute for Intelligent Systems, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
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13
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Hlay JK, Albert G, Batres C, Richardson G, Placek C, Arnocky S, Lieberman D, Hodges-Simeon CR. The evolution of disgust for pathogen detection and avoidance. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13468. [PMID: 34188198 PMCID: PMC8241835 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91712-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The behavioral immune system posits that disgust functions to protect animals from pathogen exposure. Therefore, cues of pathogen risk should be a primary driver influencing variation in disgust. Yet, to our knowledge, neither the relationship between current pathogen risk and disgust, nor the correlation between objective and perceived pathogen risk have been addressed using ecologically valid measures in a global sample. The current article reports two studies addressing these gaps. In Study 1, we include a global sample (n = 361) and tested the influence of both perceived pathogen exposure and an objective measure of pathogen risk-local communicable infectious disease mortality rates-on individual differences in pathogen and sexual disgust sensitivities. In Study 2, we first replicate Study 1's analyses in another large sample (n = 821), targeting four countries (US, Italy, Brazil, and India); we then replaced objective and perceived pathogen risk with variables specific to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In Study 1, both local infection mortality rates and perceived infection exposure predicted unique variance in pathogen and sexual disgust. In Study 2, we found that perceived infection exposure positively predicted sexual disgust, as predicted. When substituting perceived and objective SARS-CoV-2 risk in our models, perceived risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 positively predicted pathogen and sexual disgust, and state case rates negatively predicted pathogen disgust. Further, in both studies, objective measures of risk (i.e., local infection mortality and SARS-CoV-2 rates) positively correlated with subjective measures of risk (i.e., perceived infection exposure and perceived SARS-CoV-2 risk). Ultimately, these results provide two pieces of foundational evidence for the behavioral immune system: 1) perceptions of pathogen risk accurately assay local, objective mortality risk across countries, and 2) both perceived and objective pathogen risk explain variance in disgust levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica K Hlay
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Rd. #105, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Graham Albert
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Rd. #105, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Carlota Batres
- Department of Psychology, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA
| | - George Richardson
- School of Human Services, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Caitlyn Placek
- Department of Anthropology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA
| | - Steven Arnocky
- Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON, Canada
| | - Debra Lieberman
- Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | - Carolyn R Hodges-Simeon
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Rd. #105, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
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14
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Seitz BM, Tomiyama AJ, Blaisdell AP. Eating behavior as a new frontier in memory research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:795-807. [PMID: 34087276 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The study of memory is commonly associated with neuroscience, aging, education, and eyewitness testimony. Here we discuss how eating behavior is also heavily intertwined-and yet considerably understudied in its relation to memory processes. Both are influenced by similar neuroendocrine signals (e.g., leptin and ghrelin) and are dependent on hippocampal functions. While learning processes have long been implicated in influencing eating behavior, recent research has shown how memory of recent eating modulates future consumption. In humans, obesity is associated with impaired memory performance, and in rodents, dietary-induced obesity causes rapid decrements to memory. Lesions to the hippocampus disrupt memory but also induce obesity, highlighting a cyclic relationship between obesity and memory impairment. Enhancing memory of eating has been shown to reduce future eating and yet, little is known about what influences memory of eating or how memory of eating differs from memory for other behaviors. We discuss recent advancements in these areas and highlight fruitful research pursuits afforded by combining the study of memory with the study of eating behavior.
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15
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In search of the proximal cause of the animacy effect on memory: Attentional resource allocation and semantic representations. Mem Cognit 2021; 49:1137-1152. [PMID: 33733434 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-021-01154-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
People recall and recognize animate words better than inanimate words, perhaps because memory systems were shaped by evolution to prioritize memory for predators, people, and food sources. Attentional paradigms show an animacy advantage that suggests that the animacy advantage in memory stems from a prioritization of animate items when allocating attentional resources during encoding. According to the attentional prioritization hypothesis, the animacy effect should be even larger when attention is divided during encoding. Alternatively, the animacy effect could be due to more controlled processing during encoding, and so should be reduced when attention is divided during encoding. We tested the attentional prioritization hypothesis and the controlled processing hypothesis by manipulating attention during encoding in free recall (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) but failed to find interactions between word type and attentional load in either free recall or recognition, contrary to the predictions from both hypotheses. We then tested whether the semantic representations of animate and inanimate items differ in terms of number of semantic features, using existing recall data from an item-level megastudy by Lau, Goh, and Yap (Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71 (10), 2207-2222, 2018). Animate items have more semantic features, which partially mediated the relationship between animacy status and recall.
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16
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Murphy DH, Castel AD. Metamemory that matters: judgments of importance can engage responsible remembering. Memory 2021; 29:271-283. [PMID: 33726614 PMCID: PMC8009862 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1887895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2020] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive memory refers to the memory advantage for information processed in a survival and/or reproduction context while metacognition involves the awareness of what we can later remember. The notion of "responsible remembering" captures how memory functions to prioritise important information that will need to be remembered and how metacognitive processes may be more precise in situations involving consequences for forgetting. In 5 experiments, we examined whether judgments of learning and judgments of importance affect recall selectivity for information with negative consequences if forgotten. We presented participants with lists of children, each with 2 foods they like, 2 foods they dislike, and 2 foods they are allergic to. When making no metacognitive judgments or making JOLs for each food preference, participants best recalled foods the children liked, likely resulting from serial remembering (recalling information according to where it was presented). However, when judging the importance of remembering items, participants were strategic in their memory for the food preferences such that they best recalled information they rated as important to remember (allergies). These results suggest that when forced to consider the importance of remembering, participants engage in responsible remembering by deeming information with consequences for forgetting as most important and subsequently best remembering this information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dillon H Murphy
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Alan D Castel
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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17
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Bacon AM, Corr PJ. Behavioral Immune System Responses to Coronavirus: A Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory Explanation of Conformity, Warmth Toward Others and Attitudes Toward Lockdown. Front Psychol 2020; 11:566237. [PMID: 33324279 PMCID: PMC7725687 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.566237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 10/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral immune system (BIS) describes psychological mechanisms that detect cues to infectious pathogens in the immediate environment, trigger disease-relevant responses and facilitate behavioral avoidance/escape. BIS activation elicits a perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD) which can result in conformity with social norms. However, a response to superficial cues can result in aversive responses to people that pose no actual threat, leading to an aversion to unfamiliar others, and likelihood of prejudice. Pathogen-neutralizing behaviors, therefore, have implications for social interaction as well as illness behaviors and responses to health communications. In this study, we investigate how PVD influences conformity, attitudes to other people and to lockdown regulations through the lens of the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST). RST describes personality in terms of biologically-driven approach and avoidance motivations which support personal goals. Participants from the United Kingdom public (N = 605) completed an RST personality questionnaire and then read either (a) coronavirus morbidity-mortality statistics and current United Kingdom government lifestyle regulations, (b) just the regulations (as presented in most government publicity materials), or (c) no information at all. They all completed the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease scale to assess BIS-relevant Germ Aversion and Perceived Infectability, followed by questions measuring social conformity, warmth toward others and attitudes toward lockdown measures. Significantly lower PVD scores were observed in the no-information condition, with the other conditions showing no difference. In terms of RST, approach behaviors related to goal-drive persistence work alongside fear in explaining conformity to social norms. Reward related approach behaviors partially explained warmth toward others, indicating that social rewards gained through interaction continue to be strong drivers of behavior. We found no role for RST traits in attitudes toward lockdown. Overall, coronavirus-related behavior is not driven purely by fear, but also by social and/or protection goals regulated by approach motivation. This study presents new insights into public perceptions of coronavirus and government regulated lifestyle restrictions, helping to explain social behaviors in terms of biologically driven mechanisms. Such understanding is vital if we are to successfully motivate public behavior to constrain spread of the virus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison M Bacon
- School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Philip J Corr
- Department of Psychology, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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Boğa M, Günay B, Kapucu A. The Influence of Discrete Negative and Positive Stimuli on Recognition Memory of Younger vs. Older Adults. Exp Aging Res 2020; 47:21-39. [PMID: 33156738 DOI: 10.1080/0361073x.2020.1843894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Background: The effects of emotional stimuli on memory in older adults are often addressed in terms of socio-emotional selectivity theory and the valence dimension. Older adults usually remember positive stimuli better than negative stimuli. However, studies examining the effects of discrete emotions on the elderly are still limited. The present study examined the effects of negative and positive discrete emotions (fear, disgust, and happiness) on recognition memory of older and younger adults. Method: In the encoding phase, participants studied happiness-, disgust-, fear-, and neutral- related photos while doing a line discrimination task that assessed their attention. After 45 minutes, they completed an old/new recognition memory test on a confidence rating scale and also rated self-relevance of photos. Results: Younger participants showed a more liberal response bias for disgust- and fear-related stimuli, and were also more accurate in recognizing disgust-related photos compared to others. Older adults showed a more liberal bias only for disgust-related stimuli, however, their recognition accuracy did not differ across emotion categories. Conclusion: These results suggested that the effect of disgust-related stimuli on recognition memory may decrease with age and emotion effects cannot solely be accounted for by the valence/arousal dimensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Merve Boğa
- Department of Psychology, Ege University , Izmir, Turkey
| | - Burcu Günay
- Department of Psychology, Ege University , Izmir, Turkey
| | - Aycan Kapucu
- Department of Psychology, Ege University , Izmir, Turkey
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Seitz BM, Polack CW, Miller RR. Adaptive Memory: Generality of the Parent Processing Effect and Effects of Biological Relatedness on Recall. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2020; 6:246-260. [PMID: 33457190 PMCID: PMC7810045 DOI: 10.1007/s40806-020-00233-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2019] [Revised: 01/21/2020] [Accepted: 01/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The adaptive memory framework posits that human memory is an evolved cognitive feature, in which stimuli relevant to fitness are better remembered than neutral stimuli. There is now substantial evidence that processing a neutral stimulus in terms of its relevancy to an imagined ancestral survival scenario enhances recall, although there is still disagreement concerning the proximate mechanisms responsible for this effect. Several other mnemonic biases have recently been discovered that similarly appear to reflect evolutionary pressures, including a bias to remember items relevant to an imagined parenting scenario. We tested the generality of this parent processing effect by varying the biological relatedness of the imagined child. We also varied the biological relatedness of a child during an imagined third-person survival processing scenario. Across four experiments, we found evidence that simply altering the described biological relatedness of a child in the parenting scenario and third-person survival processing scenario can affect recall, such that items are better remembered when made relevant to a biological child compared to an adopted child. How these findings inform the general adaptive memory framework is discussed.
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A set of 750 words in Spanish characterized in two survival-related dimensions: avoiding death and locating nourishment. Behav Res Methods 2020; 53:153-166. [PMID: 32632741 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01434-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
With the aim of finding quantitative indicators of the survival relevance for a set of concrete concepts, a subjective rating task was administered to a large sample of college students (N = 300). In the rating task, participants used a five-point scale to rate 750 concepts in one of two survival-relevant dimensions, providing their own judgment about the relevance of each concept in a situation in which either avoiding death (AD) or obtaining food (OF) was of importance. The subjective ratings showed high stability and reliability and showed varied patterns of association to potentially relevant concept-defining variables, with correlational analyses showing both commonalities and differences between the two rated dimensions. Regression analyses indicated that, while not likely to modulate word accessibility, survival ratings were related to certain conceptual properties that could be especially sensitive for threat detection. The collected data set provides normative information that can be of use in manipulating and controlling verbal stimuli in future research focusing on adaptive properties of episodic memory and other aspects of the human cognitive system. The complete norms are available for downloading at Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/sf9mb/ ).
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21
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The adaptive value of forgetting: A direction for future research. JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN MEMORY AND COGNITION 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jarmac.2020.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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22
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Moura JMB, da Silva RH, Ferreira Júnior WS, da Silva TC, Albuquerque UP. Theoretical Insights of Evolutionary Psychology: New Opportunities for Studies in Evolutionary Ethnobiology. Evol Biol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-020-09491-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Abstract
The current study examined animacy and paired-associate learning through a survival-processing paradigm (Nairne et al. in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(2), 263-273, 2007; Schwartz & Brothers, 2014). English-speaking monolingual participants were asked to learn a set of new word translations to improve their chances of survival or to improve their study abroad experience. Animate and inanimate words were included in this task, to further examine animacy effects in cued recall paradigms (Popp & Serra in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(2), 186-201, 2016; VanArsdall et al. in Experimental Psychology, 60(3), 172-178, 2013). Across sentence-completion, matching, and picture-naming tasks, learning was facilitated by the survival context, relative to the study abroad context and an intentional learning condition. Scenario ratings indicated this survival advantage could also be a function of higher imageability ratings for the survival context than for the study abroad context. Replicating previous findings with cued recall, inanimate words were overall better remembered than animate words, across all three tasks, though survival processing facilitated language-learning for both animate and inanimate categories. This 'reverse animacy effect' replicated previous findings by Popp and Serra (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(2), 186-201, 2016), showing animate words can interfere with a participant's ability to create associations with their words, including those in a new language. These results are discussed with regards to the widely-reliable survival and animacy advantages, with a particular emphasis on the role of imageability in this paradigm.
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Bonin P, Gelin M, Laroche B, Méot A. “Survival Processing of the Selfish Gene?”: Adaptive Memory and Inclusive Fitness. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-019-00220-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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25
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Bonin P, Thiebaut G, Prokop P, Méot A. “In your head, zombie”: zombies, predation and memory. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2019.1664557] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Bonin
- LEAD-CNRS, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
| | | | - Pavol Prokop
- Department of Environmental Ecology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Alain Méot
- LAPSCO-CNRS, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
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Gretz MR, Huff MJ. Did you wash your hands? Evaluating memory for objects touched by healthy individuals and individuals with contagious and noncontagious diseases. APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1002/acp.3604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R. Gretz
- School of PsychologyThe University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg Mississippi
| | - Mark J. Huff
- School of PsychologyThe University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg Mississippi
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Fernandes NL, Pandeirada JNS, Nairne JS. Presenting new stimuli to study emotion: Development and validation of the Objects-on-Hands Picture Database. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0219615. [PMID: 31339959 PMCID: PMC6656347 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Accepted: 06/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A long-standing goal shared by researchers has been to design optimal experimental procedures, including the selection of appropriate stimuli. Pictures are commonly used in different research fields. However, until recently, researchers have relied mostly on line-drawings, which can have poor ecological validity. We developed a set of high quality standardized photographs of objects from six different categories, recorded under two camera viewpoints, and five presentation conditions (on its own, held by clean hands, and by hands covered with different substances: sauce, chocolate and mud). These various staging conditions can be used to induce different emotional states while maintaining the object of interest constant. We first report normative data on the objects’ name agreement and familiarity collected from North American and Portuguese participants. Results showed high name agreement and familiarity in both samples. Next, arousal, disgust and valence ratings were collected for the stimuli under either an emotional-activating or a neutral context. Subjective ratings varied according to the staging condition and the context, confirming that the same items can effectively be used in different emotional conditions. This database allows researchers to select more ecologically-valid stimuli according to their research purposes while considering several variables of interest and avoiding item-selection problems commonly present when comparing responses to neutral and emotional items.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natália Lisandra Fernandes
- CINTESIS, UA, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
- William James Center for Research, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
- * E-mail:
| | - Josefa N. S. Pandeirada
- CINTESIS, UA, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
- William James Center for Research, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States of America
| | - James S. Nairne
- Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States of America
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28
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Schaller M. Evolutionary psychology meets socio-ecological psychology: the motivational psychologies of disease-avoidance and parental care. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 32:6-11. [PMID: 31336251 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2019] [Revised: 06/19/2019] [Accepted: 06/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Specific features of ancestral ecologies had implications for the evolution of psychological mechanisms that regulate specific aspects of human cognition and behavior within contemporary ecologies. These mechanisms produce predictably different attitudes, judgments and behavioral dispositions under different circumstances. This article summarizes two illustrative programs of research-one that focuses on the evolved psychology of disease-avoidance and its many implications, and the other that focuses on the evolved psychology of parental care-giving and its many implications. These programs of research exemplify the generative utility of evolutionary psychological conceptual methods within the domain of socio-ecological psychology.
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Parmentier FBR, Fraga I, Leiva A, Ferré P. Distraction by deviant sounds: disgusting and neutral words capture attention to the same extent. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2019; 84:1801-1814. [PMID: 31053888 PMCID: PMC7478951 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-019-01192-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2018] [Accepted: 04/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Several studies have argued that words evoking negative emotions, such as disgust, grab attention more than neutral words, and leave traces in memory that are more persistent. However, these conclusions are typically based on tasks requiring participants to process the semantic content of these words in a voluntarily manner. We sought to compare the involuntary attention grabbing power of disgusting and neutral words using them as rare and unexpected auditory distractors in a cross-modal oddball task, and then probing the participants’ memory for these stimuli in a surprise recognition task. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses converged to show that, compared to a standard tone, disgusting and neutral auditory words produced significant but equivalent levels of distraction in a visual categorization task, that they elicited comparable levels of memory discriminability in the incidental recognition task, and that the participants’ individual sensitivity to disgust did not influence the results. Our results suggest that distraction by unexpected words is not modulated by their emotional valence, at least when these words are task-irrelevant and are temporally and perceptually decoupled from the target stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice B R Parmentier
- Department of Psychology and Research Institute for Health Sciences (iUNICS), Ed. Cientifico-Tecnico (iUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra de Valldemossa, km 75, 07122, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. .,Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain. .,School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
| | - Isabel Fraga
- Cognitive Processes and Behavior Research Group, Department of Social Psychology, Basic Psychology and Methodology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Alicia Leiva
- Department of Psychology and Research Institute for Health Sciences (iUNICS), Ed. Cientifico-Tecnico (iUNICS), University of the Balearic Islands, Ctra de Valldemossa, km 75, 07122, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain.,Balearic Islands Health Research Institute (IdISBa), Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Pilar Ferré
- Department of Psychology and CRAMC, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
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Hou C, Liu Z. The Survival Processing Advantage of Face: The Memorization of the (Un)Trustworthy Face Contributes More to Survival Adaptation. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 17:1474704919839726. [PMID: 30939930 PMCID: PMC10481074 DOI: 10.1177/1474704919839726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2018] [Accepted: 02/20/2019] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Researchers have found that compared with other existing conditions (e.g., pleasantness), information relevant to survival produced a higher rate of retrieval; this effect is known as the survival processing advantage (SPA). Previous experiments have examined that the advantage of memory can be extended to some different types of visual pictorial material, such as pictures and short video clips, but there were some arguments for whether face stimulus could be seen as a boundary condition of SPA. The current work explores whether there is a mnemonic advantage to different trustworthiness of face for human adaptation. In two experiments, we manipulated the facial trustworthiness (untrustworthy, neutral, and trustworthy), which is believed to provide information regarding survival decisions. Participants were asked to predict their avoidance or approach response tendency, when encountering strangers (represented by three classified faces of trustworthiness) in a survival scenario and the control scenario. The final surprise memory tests revealed that it was better to recognize both the trustworthy faces and untrustworthy faces, when the task was related to survival. Experiment 1 demonstrated the existence of a SPA in the bipolarity of facial untrustworthiness and trustworthiness. In Experiment 2, we replicated the SPA of trustworthy and untrustworthy face recognitions using a matched design, where we found this kind of memory benefits only in recognition tasks but not in source memory tasks. These results extend the generality of SPAs to face domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunna Hou
- School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China
| | - Zhijun Liu
- Department of Sociology, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, Jilin, People’s Republic of China
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31
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Henriques da Silva R, Ferreira Júnior WS, Muniz de Medeiros P, Albuquerque UP. Adaptive memory and evolution of the human naturalistic mind: Insights from the use of medicinal plants. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0214300. [PMID: 30913230 PMCID: PMC6435313 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 03/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Throughout evolutionary history, humans have been exposed to a wide variety of diseases, some of which have serious and even lethal consequences. Memorizing medicinal plants for the treatment of serious diseases likely maximized the chances of survival and reproduction and was instrumental in the evolutionary success of our species. In the present study, we used the idea of adaptive memory to understand whether human memory evolved to recall information about medicinal plants for the treatment of serious diseases. We considered plant-disease pairs of words as units of information available in a medical system based on the use of medicinal plants. The pairs included in the categories of chronic infectious diseases and transmissible infectious diseases were considered to be of higher adaptive value, whereas those included in the category of common conditions were considered to be of lower adaptive value. Pairs grouped into the category of emerging and reemerging diseases were employed to investigate conformity bias; pairs belonging to the category esthetic uses were considered to be of little adaptive relevance and utilized as an experimental control. Our results revealed that plant-disease pairs associated with the category of common conditions, considered by us to be of lower severity and less adaptive relevance for humans, were better remembered and retained in the participants' memory. We believe that prior experience with common conditions and the frequency of these conditions in the population may have intensified the ability to remember the plant-disease pairs associated with this group of diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Risoneide Henriques da Silva
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos (LEA), Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
| | | | - Patrícia Muniz de Medeiros
- Grupo de Etnobiologia e Ecologia Humana, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Rio Largo, Alagoas, Brazil
| | - Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
- Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos (LEA), Centro de Biociências, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
- * E-mail:
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32
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Bonin P, Thiebaut G, Witt A, Méot A. Contamination Is “Good” for Your Memory! Further Evidence for the Adaptive View of Memory. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-019-00188-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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33
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Magalhães AC, Pandeirada JNS, Fernandes NL, Soares SC. Exogenous attention and memory for faces following contextual behavioral immune system activation. Scand J Psychol 2018; 59:586-593. [PMID: 30278117 DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 08/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The behavioral immune system (BIS) is characterized by affective, cognitive and behavioral processes that work in an articulated manner to prevent the occurrence of infections. Attention and memory evolved to enhance the organism's chances of survival and have been proposed to play an important role in the BIS. The present study investigated the effects of attention and memory for neutral faces after a contextual activation of the BIS. Participants were primed, by the use of film clips, either with infectious disease concerns or non-infectious disease concerns. They performed an exogenous attentional task involving the discrimination of target letters, with face stimuli presented as distractors, which was then followed by a surprise recognition task for the faces. The results showed that participants in the infectious disease condition were more accurate in the attentional task than participants in the control condition. No significant difference between groups was found in the response times during the attention task nor in memory performance. Overall, these results suggest that the BIS might be associated with a hypervigilant state towards cues in general and that BIS activation through this type of priming may not be sufficient to clearly activate mnemonic mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Cláudia Magalhães
- CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Josefa N S Pandeirada
- CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.,Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.,William James Research Center (WJCR), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Natália Lisandra Fernandes
- CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.,William James Research Center (WJCR), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Sandra C Soares
- CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.,William James Research Center (WJCR), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.,Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Section of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Pandeirada JNS, Fernandes NL, Vasconcelos M, Nairne JS. Adaptive Memory: Remembering Potential Mates. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 15:1474704917742807. [PMID: 29169264 PMCID: PMC10367501 DOI: 10.1177/1474704917742807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/28/2017] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
According to the adaptive memory perspective, memory should function more efficiently in fitness-relevant domains. The current work explored whether there is a mnemonic tuning in a fundamental domain for human evolution: reproduction. In two experiments, female participants assessed how desirable potential male candidates (represented by a face and a short descriptor) would be in the context of a long-term mating relationship or in the context of a long-term work relationship. Then, after a short distractor task, participants performed a recognition task for the faces and a source memory task. Finally, they were asked to recall the descriptors presented during encoding. Experiment 1 used a between-subjects design, whereas Experiment 2 employed a within-subject design. In both experiments, participants remembered the faces best when they were encoded in the mating condition. Also, in Experiment 1, source memory performance was better in the mating condition than in the working condition with the reverse being true for free recall of the descriptors. The latter difference was not observed in Experiment 2. These results suggest a potential mnemonic tuning for the faces of potential mate partners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josefa N. S. Pandeirada
- Department of Education and Psychology, CINTESIS.UA, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
| | | | - Marco Vasconcelos
- Department of Education and Psychology, CESAM, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - James S. Nairne
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
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