These experiments investigate the effect of specificity of survival processing on retention. Participants will rate words for their relevance to two hierarchical, survival relevant categories in the encoding phase of an incidental memory task (see Figure 1). We seek to determine the ideal level of specificity for remembering the rated words. Additionally, we created a measure of elaboration to test how this variable will affect recall.
In Experiment 1 we compare recall when processing in terms of broad survival scenarios, specific survival scenarios, and pleasantness. The two broad and two specific scenarios are "food," "dangerous animals," "gala apples," and "rattlesnakes." Recall performance favored the survival scenarios and the broader scenarios, although these differences were not significant in all analyses. There were no significant differences in elaboration.
In Experiment 2 we compare our broad scenarios (food and dangerous animals) to a broader "survival" scenario. Recall was highest under the survival scenario, but this difference was not significant in most analyses. We expected elaboration to be higher in the broadest condition, but no differences were found. Participants may not be processing the words for their relevance to the scenarios in all possible ways.
We test this hypothesis in Experiment 3 by comparing two food conditions to one another and to pleasantness. The first scenario states that participants must find food to survive. In the second, instructions specify several ways of finding food. Elaboration slightly favored the specified condition. Although recall levels in both food conditions were higher than pleasantness, they did not differ from one another. Elaboration differences do not strongly influence recall performance.
In Experiment 4 we compare two levels of survival processing, two levels of non survival processing, and pleasantness. We use food and apples as two levels from our hierarchy. Participants rated words for their relevance to finding food or apples for survival or as part of a picnic while on vacation. Recall in the survival conditions was higher than either the picnic or pleasantness conditions. We found no differences in specificity or elaboration.
Overall, recall performance favored the survival conditions over pleasantness and two schematic picnic conditions. Some recall advantages favored the broader conditions, however these results were not consistent. Recall never favored the more specific conditions. Although the survival effect was replicated, specificity does not strongly influence on this effect. We conclude that the survival effect may be a general phenomenon and the content of the task may be less influential on memory than the enhanced arousal from imagining oneself in a survival situation.
