Exploring the role of attention during memory retrieval: Effects of semantic encoding and divided attention

Lozito, Jeffrey P.; Mulligan, Neil W. · 2006 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3758/bf03193246

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Summary

This paper investigates whether semantic encoding makes memory retrieval more susceptible to divided attention (DA), challenging the prevailing view that retrieval processes are largely automatic and protected from attentional interference. While prior research established that DA disrupts encoding, findings regarding retrieval were mixed. Some studies suggested retrieval is obligatory and unaffected by DA, while others, appealing to dual-process models of memory, argued that retrieval relying on recollection (enhanced by deep, semantic encoding) would be attention-demanding and thus vulnerable to DA. The authors aimed to test the "semantic-encoding hypothesis," which posits that semantically encoded items are more affected by DA during retrieval than phonetically encoded items. The study comprised three experiments. In Experiment 1, 48 participants encoded words using a levels-of-processing manipulation: semantic questions (e.g., category membership) or phonetic questions (e.g., rhyming). Half of the questions had "yes" answers and half had "no" answers. Memory was tested via standard recognition under either full attention (FA) or DA, where participants simultaneously performed a 1-back working memory task. Experiments 2 and 3 utilized a rhyme recognition test to assess transfer-appropriate processing, ensuring that phonetic encoding could yield high accuracy comparable to semantic encoding. This design allowed the authors to determine if DA effects were driven by semantic encoding specifically or by high recognition accuracy generally. The results contradicted the semantic-encoding hypothesis. In Experiment 1, divided attention significantly reduced overall recognition accuracy and increased secondary task costs (slower reaction times and lower accuracy on the 1-back task). However, semantic and phonetic items were equally affected by DA; there was no significant interaction between encoding level and attention. Interestingly, items with "yes" answers were more susceptible to DA than "no" items, likely due to greater integration of item and context. Experiments 2 and 3 replicated these findings using rhyme recognition tests. Even when phonetic encoding produced recognition accuracy levels comparable to semantic encoding, DA impaired performance on both types of items equally. The data indicated that dividing attention during retrieval disrupts memory performance regardless of whether the encoding was semantic or phonetic. The authors conclude that semantic encoding does not uniquely render retrieval susceptible to divided attention. The findings challenge the notion that recollection-based retrieval is inherently more attention-demanding than familiarity-based retrieval in this context. Instead, retrieval processes appear to be broadly sensitive to attentional resources, irrespective of the depth of encoding. The study suggests that previous reports of DA effects on retrieval may not be specific to semantic processing but rather reflect a general vulnerability of retrieval mechanisms to concurrent cognitive load. This implies that the distinction between automatic and controlled retrieval processes may be less rigid than previously thought, particularly regarding the role of encoding depth.

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• attention selective divided