A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Developing an internet-based stress-management program for working adults with ADHD

  2022. Martin Oscarsson (et al.). Abstracts from the 11th Swedish Congress on internet interventions (SWEsrii), Gothenburg, Sweden, 23-24 May 2022, 9-9

  Conference

  Introduction: The proportion of sickness absence due to psychiatric diagnoses has increased drastically. It is reasonable to assume that ADHD adults are overly represented in these cases. Thus, it is urgent to manage and prevent work-related mental illness in this population. Yet, the possibilities of doing so have not been studied extensively. Therefore, this project evaluates the feasibility, acceptability, and effects of an internet-based stress-management program developed specifically for this at-risk population. In this presentation, the protocol for developing and assessing the program is presented, including ADHD adults’ attitudes toward the program and comparing current interventions.

  Methods: To assess attitudes toward the program, transcripts from 20 interviews with ADHD adults were explored using descriptive thematic analysis. The interviews focused on the scope, content, and duration of the proposed intervention and the design and possible inclusion of therapist support. The program will be based on existing support and interventions for ADHD adults. The development will include a thorough assessment of previous research, including quantitative and qualitative studies, meta-analyses, and literature reviews. The most relevant and effective material will be adapted to the internet format and the ADHD-adult population.

  Results and discussion: This project will further the knowledge of possible ways to manage and prevent work-related mental illness among ADHD adults, including related sickness absence. If the proposed program shows promising results, it could quickly be made available to caregivers and/or the public, conceivably conserving considerable resources for individuals, employers, and society.

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• The underconfidence-with-practice effect in action memory

  2022. Veit Kubik (et al.). Metacognition and Learning

  Article

  When making memory predictions (judgments of learning; JOLs), people typically underestimate the recall gain across multiple study–test cycles, termed the underconfidence-with-practice (UWP) effect. This is usually studied with verbal materials, but little is known about how people repeatedly learn and monitor their own actions and to what extent retrieval practice via interim tests influence the progression of JOLs across cycles. Using action phrases (i.e., squeeze the lemon) as learning material, we demonstrated the UWP effect after both verbal and enactive encoding, although we did not get first-cycle overconfidence. As predicted, participants exhibited underconfidence in Cycles 2 and 3, as an error of calibrations. However, people’s resolution of JOLs (i.e., ability to discriminate recalled from unrecalled items) increased across study–test cycles. Importantly, JOLs for study–test (relative to study–study) items increased faster across cycles suggesting that repeated study–test practice not only produces underconfidence across cycles, but also reduces underconfidence relative to study–study practice. We discuss these findings in terms of current explanations of the underconfidence-with-practice effect.

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• Judging the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies using retrieval effort cues

  2021. Philip U. Gustafsson, Torun Lindholm, Fredrik U. Jönsson. Applied Cognitive Psychology 35 (5), 1224-1235

  Article

  Recent research has shown that incorrect statements in eyewitness testimonies contain more cues to effortful memory retrieval than correct statements. In two experiments, we attempted to improve judgments of testimony accuracy by informing participants about these effort cues. Participants read eyewitness testimony transcripts and judged statement accuracy. Performance was above chance in both experiments, but there was only a significant effect of the effort-cue instruction in Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, we also compared judgment accuracy between police detectives, police students and laypersons, and found no significant difference, in contrast to previous studies. Moreover, the current study corroborates previous findings that (a) judging testimony accuracy is a difficult task and (b) people spontaneously rely on effort cues to some extent when judging accuracy. However, a complete reliance on effort cues showed substantially better performance than relying on one's own judgments skills at best, and offered equal performance at worst.

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• Effects of Fatigue on Cognitive Performance in Long-Duration Simulated Flight Missions

  2020. Eduardo Rosa (et al.). Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors 10 (2), 82-93

  Article

  Fighter pilots may be exposed to extended flight missions. Consequently, there is increasing concern about fatigue. We investigated the effects of fatigue and cognitive performance in a simulated 11-hr mission in the 39 Gripen fighter aircraft. Five cognitive tasks were used to assess cognitive performance. Fatigue was measured with the Samn–Perelli Fatigue Index. Results showed that performance in the non-executive task degraded after approximately 7 hr. Fatigue ratings showed a matching trend to the performance in this task. Performance in tasks taxing executive functions did not decline. We interpreted that fatigue can be overridden by increased attentional effort for executive tasks but not for non-executive components of cognition. Participants underestimated their performance and metacognitive accuracy was not influenced by fatigue.

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• Putting action into testing

  2020. Veit Kubik (et al.). Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 73 (12), 2093-2105

  Article

  Retrieval practice improves long-term retention. However, it is currently debated if this testing effect can be further enhanced by overtly producing recalled responses. We addressed this issue using a standard cued-recall testing-effect paradigm with verb–noun action phrases (e.g., water the plant) to prompt motor actions as a specifically powerful response format of recall. We then tested whether motorically performing the recalled verb targets (e.g., ?–the plant) during an initial recall test (enacted retrieval) led to better long-term retention than silently retrieving them (covert retrieval) or restudying the complete verb–noun phrases (restudy). The results demonstrated a direct testing effect, in that long-term retention was enhanced for covert retrieval practice compared to restudy practice. Critically, enactment during retrieval further improved long-term retention beyond the effect of covert memory retrieval, both in a congruent noun-cued recall test after 1 week (Experiment 1) and in an incongruent verb-cued recall test of nouns after 2 weeks (Experiment 2). This finding suggests that successful memory retrieval and ensuing enactment contribute to future memory performance in parts via different mechanisms.

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• The reminiscence bump is blind to blindness

  2020. Stina Cornell Kärnekull (et al.). Consciousness and Cognition 78

  Article

  The reminiscence bump is the disproportionally high reporting of autobiographical memories from adolescence and early adulthood and is typically observed when memories are evoked by cues, such as words, pictures, and sounds. However, when odors are used the bump shifts to early childhood. Although these findings indicate that sensory modality affects the bump, the influence of the individual's sensory function on the reminiscence bumps is unknown. We examined the reminiscence bumps of sound- and odor-evoked autobiographical memories of early blind and sighted individuals, since early blindness implies considerable effects on sensory experience. Despite differences in sensory experience between blind and sighted individuals, the groups displayed similar age distributions of both sound- and odor-evoked memories. The auditory bump spanned the first two decades of life, whereas the olfactory bump was once again found in early childhood. These results demonstrate that the reminiscence bumps are robust to fundamental differences in sensory experience.

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• 'He was...uhm...bald'

  2019. Philip Gustafsson, Torun Lindholm, Fredrik Jönsson. Book of Abstracts, 327-327

  Conference

  Evaluating eyewitness testimonies has proven a difficult task. We investigated if incorrect memories are more effortful to retrieve than correct memories. Participants watched a simulated crime and were interviewed as eyewitnesses. We then analysed retrieval effort cues in witness responses. Results showed that incorrect memories included more “effort cues” than correct memories, and also partially mediated the relationship between confidence and accuracy.

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• Effort in Memory Retrieval Predicts Accuracy in Eyewitness Testimonies

  2019. Philip Gustafsson, Torun Lindholm, Fredrik Jönsson.

  Conference

  Do sincere eyewitness testimonies contain objective markers of accuracy? Despite the importance of evaluating the accuracy of verbal eyewitness testimonies, the evidence for objective measures are scarce, and current accuracy measures unsatisfactory. We demonstrate that expressed effort during memory retrieval can predict accuracy in honest eyewitnesses. Incorrect memories are recalled with greater effort (e.g. more delays and disfluencies) than correct memories.

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• Gender differences in autobiographical memory

  2019. Kristina Petersén Karlsson (et al.). Journal of Cognitive Psychology 31 (7), 651-664

  Article

  Gender differences have been found in several aspects of autobiographical memory (i.e. personally experienced events). For example, previous studies have shown that females’ autobiographical memories contain more communal and emotional expressions than do males. However, an important question concerns whether these differences can be observed both in the manifest content (i.e. what is actually said) and in the latent content (i.e. the underlying meaning of what is said). In the present exploratory study, we extended the current knowledge concerning gender differences in autobiographical memory by investigating the manifestly expressed words, as well as the latently expressed words in autobiographical memory descriptions. We observed an overall gender difference in the latent content of the autobiographical memories. Furthermore, females latently described their memories in more communal terms than males did. No other gender differences were found. Our results indicate that females’ autobiographical memories are more communally oriented than male's.

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• Multimedia learning trumps retrieval practice in psychology teaching

  2019. Ann-Sofie Jägerskog (et al.). Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 60 (3), 222-230

  Article

  It is well established that studying with (vs. without) visual illustrations as well as taking tests (vs. restudying) is beneficial for learning, but on which strategy should one put the efforts, or should they be combined for best learning? Eighty-eight upper secondary school students were given a brief lecture presented verbally (6 classes) or with the aid of a visual illustration (visuoverbal, 6 classes). The information was processed again by taking a memory test or by restudying. Recall and transfer tests were conducted after some few minutes and again after one week. The visuoverbal lecture resulted in better learning than verbal presentation only. A significant study strategy by retention interval interaction was found. However, this interaction was not qualified by a testing effect. Hence, taking tests (retrieval practice) did not lead to better learning than restudying. It was concluded that it is worthwhile to use visual illustrations in teaching. However, the present study did not reveal any synergistic effects from the combination of visuoverbal presentation and retrieval practice.

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• Predicting Accuracy in Eyewitness Testimonies With Memory Retrieval Effort and Confidence

  2019. Philip U. Gustafsson, Torun Lindholm, Fredrik U. Jönsson. Frontiers in Psychology 10

  Article

  Evaluating eyewitness testimonies has proven a difficult task. Recent research, however, suggests that incorrect memories are more effortful to retrieve than correct memories, and confidence in a memory is based on retrieval effort. We aimed to replicate and extend these findings, adding retrieval latency as a predictor of memory accuracy. Participants watched a film sequence with a staged crime and were interviewed about its content. We then analyzed retrieval effort cues in witness responses. Results showed that incorrect memories included more “effort cues” than correct memories. While correct responses were produced faster than incorrect responses, delays in responses proved a better predictor of accuracy than response latency. Furthermore, participants were more confident in correct than incorrect responses, and the effort cues partially mediated this confidence-accuracy relation. In sum, the results support previous findings of a relationship between memory accuracy and objectively verifiable cues to retrieval effort.

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• Effort in Memory Retrieval Predicts Accuracy in Eyewitness Testimonies

  2019. Philip Gustafsson, Torun Lindholm, Fredrik U. Jönsson.

  Conference

  Do sincere eyewitness testimonies contain objective markers of accuracy? We show that expressions of effort in memory retrieval predict eyewitness accuracy. Incorrect memories are recalled with greater effort than correct memories.

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• Effort Cues Predict Eyewitness Accuracy

  2019. Torun Lindholm, Fredrik Jönsson, Marco Tullio Liuzza.

  Conference

  We investigate whether retrieval effort cues are related to eyewitness accuracy, and the relative role of effort cues and witnesses’ confidence in predicting memory. The results demonstrate that verbal and paraverbal retrieval effort cues are strongly related to witnesses’ accuracy. Moreover, subjective confidence in memory rests on these cues.

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Show all publications by Fredrik Jönsson at Stockholm University