Optional stopping and the termination of memory retrieval
Dougherty, M.R. and Harbison, J.I. and Davelaar, Eddy J. (2014) Optional stopping and the termination of memory retrieval. Current Directions in Psychological Science 23 (5), pp. 332-337. ISSN 0963-7214.
Abstract
Recent years have seen an increased interest in understanding memory-retrieval dynamics and, in particular, what makes a person decide to terminate the memory-search process. We review research that has employed the open-ended retrieval paradigm (Dougherty & Harbison, 2007) and focus on the behavioral regularities it has revealed. The main finding of this research is that people’s memory-search behavior follows a lawful pattern of a convex decreasing relation between exit latency, or the time between the final retrieval and the decision to terminate search, and the number of items retrieved. Theoretical work has converged on a stopping rule that treats the retrieval process as a costly cognitive process that is truncated on the basis of a comparative judgment of perceived relative benefit. Parallels with other search domains are highlighted.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | free recall, search termination, cognitive search, stopping rules |
School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences |
Depositing User: | Administrator |
Date Deposited: | 20 Oct 2014 16:50 |
Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 17:13 |
URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/10757 |
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