TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of group configuration in the social transmission of memory
T2 - Evidence from identical and reconfigured groups
AU - Choi, Hae Yoon
AU - Blumen, Helena M.
AU - Congleton, Adam R.
AU - Rajaram, Suparna
PY - 2014/1/2
Y1 - 2014/1/2
N2 - Collaborating with others during recall shapes both group and individual memories. Individuals contribute less when recalling in groups than when recalling alone, a phenomenon called collaborative inhibition. In contrast, collaboration improves post-collaborative individual memory by providing re-exposure to information that would have been otherwise forgotten. Collaboration also influences collective memory-the overlap in post-collaborative memory among group members. We examined the role of group configuration on such transmission of memory by varying group configuration across repeated recalls. Participants (N = 162) studied words and completed three recall sessions in one of three conditions (N = 54/condition): Individual-Individual-Individual (Control), Collaborative-Collaborative (Identical group)-Individual and Collaborative-Collaborative (Reconfigured group)-Individual. Collaborative inhibition occurred in both the Identical and Reconfigured groups during the first recall but disappeared in the Reconfigured groups during the second recall. Post-collaborative individual memory was greater following Reconfigured than Identical group collaboration. This pattern reversed for collective memories; repeated collaboration increased overlap in the remembered and forgotten items in Identical groups compared to Reconfigured groups. Finally, Reconfigured groups provided a quantifiable index of the influence of distal partners (i.e., no direct collaboration involved) on post-collaborative individual memory. We conclude that group configuration has powerful consequences on the amount, the similarity and the variety of memory representations.
AB - Collaborating with others during recall shapes both group and individual memories. Individuals contribute less when recalling in groups than when recalling alone, a phenomenon called collaborative inhibition. In contrast, collaboration improves post-collaborative individual memory by providing re-exposure to information that would have been otherwise forgotten. Collaboration also influences collective memory-the overlap in post-collaborative memory among group members. We examined the role of group configuration on such transmission of memory by varying group configuration across repeated recalls. Participants (N = 162) studied words and completed three recall sessions in one of three conditions (N = 54/condition): Individual-Individual-Individual (Control), Collaborative-Collaborative (Identical group)-Individual and Collaborative-Collaborative (Reconfigured group)-Individual. Collaborative inhibition occurred in both the Identical and Reconfigured groups during the first recall but disappeared in the Reconfigured groups during the second recall. Post-collaborative individual memory was greater following Reconfigured than Identical group collaboration. This pattern reversed for collective memories; repeated collaboration increased overlap in the remembered and forgotten items in Identical groups compared to Reconfigured groups. Finally, Reconfigured groups provided a quantifiable index of the influence of distal partners (i.e., no direct collaboration involved) on post-collaborative individual memory. We conclude that group configuration has powerful consequences on the amount, the similarity and the variety of memory representations.
KW - Collaborative inhibition
KW - Collaborative memory
KW - Collective memory
KW - Proximal-distal partners
KW - Reconfigured groups
KW - Social transmission of memory.
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U2 - 10.1080/20445911.2013.862536
DO - 10.1080/20445911.2013.862536
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84891276597
SN - 2044-5911
VL - 26
SP - 65
EP - 80
JO - Journal of Cognitive Psychology
JF - Journal of Cognitive Psychology
IS - 1
ER -