Unlike typical written prose, visual narratives can be arranged in various ways on the page. Recent theoretical frameworks predict that narrative structure and layout both involve hierarchical structures which are constructed with similar processes. While experimental research has begun to look at how comics layouts are perceived and affect reading comprehension, they have yet to probe the interaction between narrative structure and layout. To this end, we describe two experiments where we display the same comic strips in each of three different layouts, while also investigating the influence of narrative structure. In Experiment 1, self-paced reading times show effects of both the layout on the screen and the narrative structure. In Experiment 2, eye-tracking reveals how attention moves between panels. Regressions-which move the eyes back to a previously inspected panel-are common but happen less often when panels are interrupted by a layout line break. Regressions were also less likely to move across a narrative boundary when it co-occurred with a line break. This shows how layout choices can affect scanning between panels, and potentially change how the narrative is processed and segmented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Cognitive offloading can boost the performance of memory-based tasks while simultaneously impairing memory for offloaded information. Past research suggests that this impairment may occur because people reduce the use of encoding strategies that support memory when expecting to rely on an offloaded store at test. To further elucidate the memorial costs of cognitive offloading, we investigated the effects of store expectancy on both encoding and retrieval processes. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, we investigated how offloaded store expectancy affects levels of processing at encoding by comparing free recall performance in deep and shallow-processing conditions to performance in cognitive offloading conditions where people did or did not expect to lose access to offloaded notes at test. Across these experiments, performance in the unexpected loss of access offloading conditions was poorer than performance in the shallow encoding conditions. In Experiment 4, we investigated how access to offloaded notes and store expectancy affects subjective retrieval experiences by asking participants to make remember/know judgments under offloading conditions where they did or did not expect to have access to their offloaded stores. Participants were also asked to report what they remembered specifically about the recalled word (remember judgments) or how confident they were (know judgments). Participants made fewer remember judgments when they had access to offloaded notes at test than when they did not. We suggest that cognitive offloading is a dynamic tool that can simultaneously serve external storage and encoding functions, with the emphasis on each function shifting depending on offloaded store expectancy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The Hebb repetition effect, in which memory improves for repeated compared to nonrepeated sequences, is a well-established phenomenon in memory research. Despite its broad practical and theoretical importance, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. It has recently been suggested that explicit awareness, or foreknowledge of repetition, plays a critical role in sequence learning. Across five large-scale experiments, using a serial recall task, we tested this proposition by examining the influence of foreknowledge (informing participants whether each sequence is repeated or nonrepeated) on Hebb learning. We used both an open pool, where nonrepeated trials contained unique items, and a closed pool, where the same items were used on every trial. In Experiment 1, all participants received foreknowledge; half were assigned to the open-pool group and half to the closed-pool group. The pool-size effect persisted: Learning was stronger in open than in closed pools. Experiment 2 compared foreknowledge and no foreknowledge groups using an open pool and found no benefit of foreknowledge. In Experiments 3, 4, and 5, using closed pools, foreknowledge provided a modest advantage for Hebb learning, especially for nonwords (Experiment 4) compared to words (Experiments 3 and 5). Experiment 5 further compared learning based on recognition of the repeated sequence postexperiment and revealed that learning only occurred when the repeated sequence could be recognized, regardless of the foreknowledge condition. Together, these findings suggest that while foreknowledge of repetition can enhance sequence learning under conditions of high interference, it is not a sufficient condition for learning to occur. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Testing studied information not only facilitates long-term consolidation of tested content but also enhances subsequent acquisition of new knowledge. These dual aspects of test-enhanced learning have predominantly been examined using verbal materials. In the present study, we extended this investigation to low-level visual features, in particular visual salience (luminance and color saturation), to determine whether interim testing can retrospectively consolidate and prospectively boost learning of continuous visual information. Across two experiments, participants studied five lists of scene images with varying levels of visual salience. Participants in the interim test group were tested on each list, while those in the interim restudy group restudied the prior list after studying Lists 1-4 and were tested only on List 5. A cumulative final test was administered after either a brief delay of 30 s (Experiment 1) or an extended delay of 2 days (preregistered Experiment 2). Both experiments showed that interim testing prospectively enhanced the precision, absolute accuracy, and relative accuracy of visual memory in the List 5 interim test without altering memory bias. Similar retrospective effects of interim testing were observed on the cumulative test. These findings demonstrate the generalizability of test-enhanced learning to the precision and accuracy of continuous visual memory for subtle features and provide support for reset-of-encoding and motivation-based accounts of test-enhanced learning while challenging semantic explanations. In addition, design-related insights into the replicability of memory fading are provided, and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Critical details are important to remember, whereas trivial information is not. The present research examined whether there were differences in relative susceptibility to proactive interference (PI) for high-value, low-value, zero-value, or negative-value information within working memory (WM) in younger adults. PI occurs when previously learned information disrupts current performance. Across four experiments, participants (N = 255) completed a recent probes WM task, where verbal memoranda were arbitrarily assigned point values after encoding and memory was tested after a 3-s delay. A surprise long-term memory recognition test was also administered. Results revealed similar magnitudes of PI for high-, low-, and zero-value information. In contrast, there was significantly less PI for negative-value relative to high-value memoranda. Moreover, negative-value cues resulted in worse long-term memory relative to high-value cues, whereas long-term memory was comparable among zero-, low-, and high-value memoranda. These data inform theories of value-directed remembering and the removal of information from WM, including how only negative-value cues resembled directed forgetting in WM, whereas participants tended to maintain high-, low-, and zero-value memoranda in WM when there was no externally apparent harm to retain the items. Thus, evidence demonstrates that individuals tend to maintain information in WM unless explicitly told to remove it or informed that it will be detrimental to retain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
