Shawn Schwartz

All Publications

• Clinically studied or clinically proven? Memory for claims in print advertisements APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Murphy, D. H., Schwartz, S. T., Alberts, K. O., Siegel, A. M., Carone, B. J., Castel, A. D., Drolet, A. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1002/acp.4106

  View details for Web of Science ID 001029593100001

• Value-directed retrieval: The effects of divided attention at encoding and retrieval on memory selectivity and retrieval dynamics. Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition Murphy, D. H., Schwartz, S. T., Castel, A. D. 2023

  Abstract

  Value-directed remembering refers to the tendency to best remember important information at the expense of less valuable information, and this ability may draw on strategic attentional processes. In six experiments, we investigated the role of attention in value-directed remembering by examining memory for important information under conditions of divided attention during encoding and retrieval. We presented participants with lists of words of varying objective or subjective value and compared participants completing the study phase under full or divided attention, in addition to participants completing the testing phase under full or divided attention. Results revealed that certain forms of selectivity were impaired when attention was divided during encoding but not when attention was divided during retrieval. Participants initiated recall (i.e., probability of first recall [PFR]) with high-value words as well as with words they subjectively deemed important; these value-mediated PFR retrieval dynamics resisted influence from reduced attentional resources during encoding and retrieval. Thus, while value-directed remembering involves both strategic encoding and retrieval operations, attentional resources during encoding appear crucial for subsequent recollection of valuable and important information; however, attentional resources during retrieval may be less influential in strategic selective memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/xlm0001264

  View details for PubMedID 37326541

• Memory, metamemory, and false memory for features of the Apple logo APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Whatley, M. C., Schwartz, S. T., Block, J. B., Castel, A. D. 2023

  View details for DOI 10.1002/acp.4088

  View details for Web of Science ID 000999507600001

• Take a load off: examining partial and complete cognitive offloading of medication information. Cognitive research: principles and implications Richmond, L. L., Kearley, J., Schwartz, S. T., Hargis, M. B. 2023; 8 (1): 12

  Abstract

  Although cognitive offloading, or the use of physical action to reduce internal cognitive demands, is a commonly used strategy in everyday life, relatively little is known about the conditions that encourage offloading and the memorial consequences of different offloading strategies for performance. Much of the extant work in this domain has focused on laboratory-based tasks consisting of word lists, letter strings, or numerical stimuli and thus makes little contact with real-world scenarios under which engaging in cognitive offloading might be likely. Accordingly, the current work examines offloading choice behavior and potential benefits afforded by offloading health-related information. Experiment 1 tests for internal memory performance for different pieces of missing medication interaction information. Experiment 2 tests internal memory and offloading under full offloading and partial offloading instructions for interaction outcomes that are relatively low severity (e.g., sweating). Experiment 3 extends Experiment 2 by testing offloading behavior and benefit in low-severity, medium-severity (e.g., backache), and high-severity interaction outcomes (e.g., heart attack). Here, we aimed to elucidate the potential benefits afforded by partial offloading and to examine whether there appears to be a preference for choosing to offload (i) difficult-to-remember information across outcomes that vary in severity, as well as (ii) information from more severe interaction outcomes. Results suggest that partial offloading benefits performance compared to relying on internal memory alone, but full offloading is more beneficial to performance than partial offloading.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s41235-023-00468-z

  View details for PubMedID 36750483

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9905397

• Value-directed memory selectivity relies on goal-directed knowledge of value structure prior to encoding in young and older adults. Psychology and aging Schwartz, S. T., Siegel, A. L., Eich, T. S., Castel, A. D. 2023; 38 (1): 30-48

  Abstract

  People are generally able to selectively attend and remember high-value over low-value information. Here, we investigated whether young and older adults would display typical value-based memory selectivity effects for to-be-learned item-value associations when goal-directed information about the meaning of associated values was presented before and after encoding. In two experiments, both young and older adults were presented with one (Experiment 1) or multiple (Experiment 2) lists of words that were arbitrarily paired with different numerical values (e.g., "door-8") or font colors (e.g., "door" presented in red), which indicated each word's value. In Experiment 1, participants were told that the numerical value indicated the relative importance of each item either before they studied the list (preencoding), after they studied it (postencoding), or not at all (no value control instructions). Older adults were significantly more selective in the preencoding condition relative to the other conditions, whereas younger adults were not selective in any condition on this single-list (numerical) value task of Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, young and older adults were tested on four additional lists of both pre- and postencoding trials each after studying and recalling four lists of words without any value instructions. Results from Experiment 2 revealed that both young and older adults selectively prioritized high-value words on the preencoding trials, but not on postencoding trials, on this color-based categorical (low-medium-high) value task. The present study highlights a critical role of goal-directed knowledge of value-based instructions prior to encoding to facilitate typically observed value-directed memory selectivity for important information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

  View details for DOI 10.1037/pag0000720

  View details for PubMedID 36701535

• Serial and strategic memory processes in goal-directed selective remembering. Cognition Murphy, D. H., Schwartz, S. T., Castel, A. D. 2022; 225: 105178

  Abstract

  People often rely on habitual, serial processing when presented with to-be-learned information. We tested how strategic processing can override more bottom-up, serial processes when remembering information by having participants study a list of word triads (e.g., "dollar phone pizza"). Participants' goal was manipulated by maximizing either (i) their recall for each of the studied words or (ii) their total score associated with recalling certain words in each triad that were more valuable (worth more points) to engage either serial or strategic processing and retrieval mechanisms. Results revealed that when learners were told to maximize their total recall, they frequently engaged in serial remembering-remembering guided by an item's location within the study phase (i.e., words were retrieved according to a habitual reading bias). However, when words were paired with point values that counted towards participants' scores if recalled, participants were not only selective for high-value words but also attempted to overcome the tendency to engage in serial remembering; instead, they appeared to engage in strategic remembering whereby retrieval is guided by value. Thus, to maximize memory utility, it may be beneficial to override habitual processes and initiate retrieval with high-value words, and when making recall transitions, to recall high-value words together. Importantly, when certain to-be-remembered words were more valuable than their neighbors, participants still demonstrated some serial processing of the to-be-remembered words, indicating that even when engaging in strategic memory, some habitual processes can persist.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105178

  View details for PubMedID 35644091

• SARS-CoV-2: Cross-scale Insights from Ecology and Evolution TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY Snedden, C. E., Makanani, S. K., Schwartz, S. T., Gamble, A., Blakey, R., Borremans, B., Helman, S. K., Espericueta, L., Valencia, A., Endo, A., Alfaro, M. E., Lloyd-Smith, J. O. 2021; 29 (7): 593-605

  Abstract

  Ecological and evolutionary processes govern the fitness, propagation, and interactions of organisms through space and time, and viruses are no exception. While coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research has primarily emphasized virological, clinical, and epidemiological perspectives, crucial aspects of the pandemic are fundamentally ecological or evolutionary. Here, we highlight five conceptual domains of ecology and evolution - invasion, consumer-resource interactions, spatial ecology, diversity, and adaptation - that illuminate (sometimes unexpectedly) the emergence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We describe the applications of these concepts across levels of biological organization and spatial scales, including within individual hosts, host populations, and multispecies communities. Together, these perspectives illustrate the integrative power of ecological and evolutionary ideas and highlight the benefits of interdisciplinary thinking for understanding emerging viruses.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.tim.2021.03.013

  View details for Web of Science ID 000659031800005

  View details for PubMedID 33893024

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7997387

• Selective memory disrupted in intra-modal dual-task encoding conditions MEMORY & COGNITION Siegel, A. M., Schwartz, S. T., Castel, A. D. 2021

  Abstract

  Given natural memory limitations, people can generally attend to and remember high-value over low-value information even when cognitive resources are depleted in older age and under divided attention during encoding, representing an important form of cognitive control. In the current study, we examined whether tasks requiring overlapping processing resources may impair the ability to selectively encode information in dual-task conditions. Participants in the divided-attention conditions of Experiment 1 completed auditory tone-distractor tasks that required them to discriminate between tones of different pitches (audio-nonspatial) or auditory channels (audio-spatial), while studying items in different locations in a grid (visual-spatial) differing in reward value. Results indicated that, while reducing overall memory accuracy, neither cross-modal auditory distractor task influenced participants' ability to selectively encode high-value items relative to a full attention condition, suggesting maintained cognitive control. Participants in Experiment 2 studied the same important visual-spatial information while completing demanding color (visual-nonspatial) or pattern (visual-spatial) discrimination tasks during study. While the cross-modal visual-nonspatial task did not influence memory selectivity, the intra-modal visual-spatial secondary task eliminated participants' sensitivity to item value. These results add novel evidence of conditions of impaired cognitive control, suggesting that the effectiveness of top-down, selective encoding processes is attenuated when concurrent tasks rely on overlapping processing resources.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13421-021-01166-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 000632361500001

  View details for PubMedID 33763815

• Test Anxiety and Metacognitive Performance in the Classroom EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW Silaj, K. M., Schwartz, S. T., Siegel, A. M., Castel, A. D. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10648-021-09598-6

  View details for Web of Science ID 000630244400001

• Sashimi: A toolkit for facilitating high-throughput organismal image segmentation using deep learning METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION Schwartz, S. T., Alfaro, M. E. 2021: 1-14

  View details for DOI 10.1111/2041-210X.13712

• An own-race bias in the categorisation and recall of associative information MEMORY Murphy, D. H., Silaj, K. M., Schwartz, S. T., Rhodes, M. G., Castel, A. D. 2021: 1-16

  Abstract

  Serial position effects involve the differential recall of information based on its temporal order at encoding. Previous research indicates that learners may be aware of these effects under certain encoding conditions, but it is unclear whether metacognitive control is sensitive to serial position effects. The current study examined whether there are serial position effects in participants' study time and whether they can learn about serial position effects under fixed encoding conditions and then transfer what they have learned to self-paced study conditions. Specifically, participants were given lists of to-be-remembered words and studied each word for a fixed duration on initial lists, but self-paced their study time on later lists. Results revealed that self-paced study times oppositely mirrored serial position effects (i.e., briefer study times in the beginning and end of each list), and serial position effects were reduced in self-paced study conditions, particularly in participants initially studying under fixed conditions before self-pacing their study time. Specifically, participants may have monitored their output and, based on observations of forgetting middle items, transferred their learning of serial position effects from prior lists. Thus, participants may use forgetting and serial position information to guide encoding, indicating that fundamental properties of the memory system can be incorporated into the processes that guide metacognitive control.

  View details for DOI 10.1080/09658211.2021.1999982

• Is the Future Bright or Bleak? Assessing Past and Future Outlooks Across the Adult Lifespan GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRIC MEDICINE Silaj, K. M., Schwartz, S. T., Castel, A. D., McDonough, I. M. 2021

  View details for DOI 10.1177/23337214211046080

• Younger and Older Adults' Mood and Expectations Regarding Aging During COVID-19 GERONTOLOGY AND GERIATRIC MEDICINE Whatley, M. C., Siegel, A. M., Schwartz, S. T., Silaj, K. M., Castel, A. D. 2020; 6: 2333721420960259

  Abstract

  The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has broadly impacted our daily lives. Here, we used a longitudinal approach to investigate older adults' mood and expectations regarding aging before and during the global pandemic (Study 1). We also examined age differences in mood, expectations regarding aging, COVID-19 attitudes, and loneliness using a cross-sectional approach (Study 2). In Study 1, older adults completed a mood and expectations regarding aging survey up to 2 years prior to the pandemic and again in April, 2020 (during the pandemic). Participants also completed surveys regarding COVID-19 attitudes and loneliness. In Study 2, a United States sample of younger and older adults completed these surveys during the pandemic. Older adults' mood and expectations regarding aging remained fairly constant, and younger adults showed lower mood and expectations regarding aging than did older adults, despite older adults showing greater concern about COVID-19. Overall, we find that some older adults seem to be resilient with respect to their mood and expectations regarding aging. These findings reveal important preliminary implications for how older adults may be impacted as a result of lifestyle changes necessary for well-being and the well-being of society.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/2333721420960259

  View details for Web of Science ID 000573125700001

  View details for PubMedID 32984443

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7498965

• Strategic encoding and enhanced memory for positive value-location associations MEMORY & COGNITION Schwartz, S. T., Siegel, A. M., Castel, A. D. 2020; 48 (6): 1015-1031

  Abstract

  People often need to remember the location of important objects or events, and also to remember locations that are associated with negative objects. In the current study, we examined how both positive and negative items might be selectively remembered in the visuospatial domain. Participants studied number-items ranging from -25 to +25 indicating point values in a grid display and were instructed to maximize their score (a summation of correctly remembered positive and negative information; incorrectly placed negative items resulted in a subtraction from the overall score). Items were presented in a sequential, simultaneous (Experiment 1), or self-regulated format (Experiment 2) where participants controlled which items to study and the length of study time per item. In Experiment 1, participants selectively recalled high-magnitude over low-magnitude items, but also displayed a positivity preference in memory. In Experiment 2, we were able to determine whether this positivity preference was a result of bottom-up, automatic, or top-down strategic processes. Results indicated that participants explicitly chose to study positive items more frequently and for more total time relative to negative items, suggesting a deliberate strategy to focus on positive information. This bias for highly positive information suggests an overt points-gained approach, as opposed to a loss-aversion approach, to remembering value in the visuospatial domain.

  View details for DOI 10.3758/s13421-020-01034-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000526998900001

  View details for PubMedID 32291586

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7387219

• The Evolution of Color Pattern in Butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae) INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY Alfaro, M. E., Karan, E. A., Schwartz, S. T., Shultz, A. J. 2019; 59 (3): 604-615

  View details for DOI 10.1093/icb/icz119

• Smart access to 3D structures NATURE REVIEWS CHEMISTRY Dang, J., Lin, B., Yuan, J., Schwartz, S. T., Shah, R. M., Garg, N. K. 2018; 2 (7): 95-96

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41570-018-0021-y

  View details for Web of Science ID 000438549000001