The research project investigates the social nature of memory and the distinctive mechanisms underlying collaborative memory process. It focuses on two forms of social memory phenomena that have been robustly demonstrated: (a) effects of socially shared encoding on individual memory, and (b) effects of group collaboration in memory tasks. The process underlying effects of socially shared encoding and interpersonal collaboration on memory is examined through five tasks.
Task1 examines the a previously proposed cognitive process: the stimuli that are experienced together with relevant others receive more attention and elaboration, thus increasing their accessibility. Task 2 explores affiliative-relational motivation by which cognitive processes are harnessed to fulfill our goals in a given social context. Task 3 and 4 use a new paradigm examining the effects of manipulating representations formed at encoding on a cued recall task. Task 5 explores distributed memory (i.e. whether elaborative efforts made by one group member can enhance memory of other group members).