Time estimation and memory for text following mental time travel

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2015-09-18

Department

Towson University. Department of Psychology

Program

Citation of Original Publication

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Subjects

Abstract

An individual's memory for information is reliant upon many circumstances such as environmental context (Godden & Baddeley, 1975), sensory cues (Balch & Lewis, 1996), mood (Eich, Macaulay, & Ryan, 1994), mental context (Sahakyan, Abushanab, Smith, & Gray, 2014), and cognitive processes such as working memory (McVay & Kane, 2012). Past research indicates that context change during encoding and retrieval facilitates forgetting of information and increases retrospective time estimation (Sahakyan & Smith, 2014). We investigated the effects of temporal context change on retrospective time estimation and memory for narrative information. We also explored working memory in relation to time estimation and recall. Results indicate slightly longer retrospective time estimates for participants who engaged in a temporally far context change compared to those who engaged in a temporally near context change or no context change. Recall of inference questions was more accurate for near-context change Ss than for far- or no-context change Ss. Working memory was unrelated to all measures in each context change condition. In the no-context condition, time estimation was positively correlated with all recall measures, suggesting that overestimates of time are related to better memory when no temporal context is present to aid in recall.