How collaborative remembering influences memory

• Applicant: Dr. Magdalena Abel
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 515576930

In daily life, we often engage in remembering together with other people. Previous research has identified positive as well as negative effects of social interactions on subsequent individual memory. Completing memory tests together with others (instead of alone) can lead to collaborative facilitation (i.e., better memory for studied information), but can also provide an opportunity for social contagion with incorrect information (i.e., a memory distortion based on social input). So far, these positive and negative effects have however only been examined separately. A new, recognition-based collaboration tasks now allows examining them in combination. Preliminary work suggests that collaborative facilitation and social contagion indeed occur simultaneously in this task, and that both contribute to the development of shared memories on a group level. The goal of the present research project is to use the new task to examine information transmission in social groups. In program section 1, the focus is on the cognitive mechanisms that underly social information transmission. Building on previous research on the positive and negative effects of social interactions on memory, source memory judgments (Experiment 1), remember/know judgments (Experiment 2) and the role of distinctive processing (Experiment 3) will be examined in order to find out which cognitive mechanisms support information transmission and the development of shared memories. Moreover, in program section 2, important factors that may influence information transmission in social groups will be varied. Using complex learning materials, the section aims to provide insights into how social familiarity of group members (Experiment 4), social pressure and consensus (Experiment 5) and group size (Experiment 6) affect information transmission and the development of shared memories. Finally, program section 3 focuses on the extent to which social information transmission can also be viewed as adaptive. In the existing literature, social information transmission has largely been described as a negative influence that distorts individual memory. However, social interactions can also be seen as a source of new learning. The resulting memory distortions may therefore also have a positive effect on future behavior, at least under certain conditions. To test this view, the influence of social information transmission on subsequent decisions will be examined in two further experiments (Experiments 7 and 8). In summary, the present research project aims to investigate the effects of social interactions on individual memory and the development of shared memories in a more systematic and holistic manner. The project will provide new insights that have the potential to change the currently prevailing view on memory processes in social contexts.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants