Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T04:00:47.056Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

23 - Adaptive Memory

Fitness-Relevant Tunings in Human Memory

from Part II - Evolution of Memory Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2022

By
James S. Nairne  and
Michelle E. Coverdale
Edited by
Mark A. Krause ,
Karen L. Hollis  and
Mauricio R. Papini
Mark A. Krause
Affiliation:
Southern Oregon University
Karen L. Hollis
Affiliation:
Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts
Mauricio R. Papini
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University
Get access

Summary

Human memory is an evolved trait, fine-tuned over generations by the process of natural selection. Using the technique of forward engineering, our laboratory has derived empirical predictions about remembering by focusing on the main criteria that drive natural selection. Memory systems must have evolved because they enhanced fitness — i.e., survival and reproduction — so we reasoned that memory’s operating characteristics likely show sensitivity to fitness dimensions. As we review in this chapter, this strategy has led to the discovery of a number of novel phenomena, some of which are among the most potent memory-enhancing techniques yet discovered in the memory field. Included in our discussion are the effects of survival processing, animacy, potential contamination from disease, and finding potential mating partners. Throughout, we consider the merits of taking an evolutionary perspective on the discovery and interpretation of mnemonic phenomena.

Keywords

adaptive memoryadaptationsurvival processinganimacycontaminationmating
Type
Chapter
Information
Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms , pp. 406 - 423
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, R., Röer, J. P., & Buchner, A. (2013). Adaptive memory: The survival-processing memory advantage is not due to negativity or mortality salience. Memory & Cognition, 41(4), 490–502. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-012-0290-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonin, P., Gelin, M., & Bugaiska, A. (2014). Animates are better remembered than inanimates: Further evidence from word and picture stimuli. Memory & Cognition, 42(3), 370–382. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0368-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bonin, P., Gelin, M., Laroche, B., Méot, A., & Bugaiska, A. (2015). The “how” of animacy effects in episodic memory. Experimental Psychology, 62, 371–384. https://doi.org/10.1027/1618-3169/a000308Google Scholar
Bonin, P., Gelin, M., Laroche, B. et al. (2020). “Survival Processing of the Selfish Gene?”: Adaptive memory and inclusive fitness. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 6, 155–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00220-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonin, P., Thiebaut, G., Witt, A., & Méot, A. (2019). Contamination is “good” for your memory! Further evidence for the adaptive view of memory. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 5, 300–316. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00188-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buller, D. J. (2005). Adapting minds: Evolutionary psychology and the persistent quest for human nature. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Butler, A. C., Kang, S. H. K., & Roediger, H. L. III (2009). Congruity effects between materials and processing tasks in the survival processing paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35, 1477–1486. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017024Google Scholar
Chapman, H. A., Johannes, K., Poppenk, J. L., Moscovitch, M., & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Evidence for the differential salience of disgust and fear in episodic memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(4), 1100–1112. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030503CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derringer, C. J., Scofield, J. E., & Kostic, B. (2017). Investigations of a reproductive processing advantage in memory. Memory & Cognition, 45(6), 983–1001. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-017-0709-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885/1964). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. Dover, (Originally published 1885; translated 1913.) https://doi.org/10.1037/10011-001Google Scholar
Erdfelder, E., & Kroneisen, M. (2014). Proximate cognitive mechanisms underlying the survival processing effect. In Schwartz, B., Howe, M., Toglia, M., & Otgaar, H. (Eds.), What is adaptive about adaptive memory? (pp. 172–198). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199928057.003.0010Google Scholar
Fellner, M.-C., Bäuml, K.-H. T., & Hanslmayr, S. (2013). Brain oscillatory subsequent memory effects differ in power and long-range synchronization between semantic and survival. NeuroImage, 79, 361–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.04.121Google Scholar
Fernandes, N. L., Pandeirada, J. N. S., Soares, S., & Nairne, J. S. (2017). Adaptive memory: The mnemonic value of contamination. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38, 451–460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.04.003Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, C. J., Horgan, T. G., & Himes, S. M. (2016). Shaping men’s memory: The effects of a female’s waist-to-hip ratio on men’s memory for her appearance and biographical information. Evolution and Human Behavior, 37, 510–516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.05.004Google Scholar
Forester, G., Kroneisen, M., Erdferlder, E., & Kamp, S.-M. (2019). On the role of retrieval processes in the survival processing effect: Evidence from ROC and ERP analyses. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 166, 107083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2019.107083Google Scholar
Horgan, T. G., Broadbent, J., McKibbin, W. F., & Duehring, A. J. (2016). Show versus tell? The effects of mating context on women’s memory for a man’s physical features and verbal statements. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33, 733–750. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407515590279Google Scholar
Howe, M. L., & Derbish, M. H. (2010). On the susceptibility of adaptive memory to false memory illusions. Cognition, 115, 252–267. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.12.016Google Scholar
Kazanas, S. A., & Altarriba, J. (2015). The survival advantage: Underlying mechanisms and extant limitations. Evolutionary Psychology, 13, 360–396. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F147470491501300204CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, S. B. (2013). Does optimal recall in the adaptive memory paradigm require the encoding context to encourage thoughts about the environment of evolutionary adaptation? Memory & Cognition, 41, 49–59. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-012-0239-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klein, S. B., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J., & Chance, S. (2002). Decisions and the evolution of memory: Multiple systems, multiple functions. Psychological Review, 109, 306–329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krause, M. A., & Domjan, M. (2017). Ethological and evolutionary perspectives on Pavlovian conditioning. In Call, J., Burghardt, G. M., Pepperberg, I. M., Snowdon, C. T., & Zentall, T. (Eds.), APA handbook of comparative psychology: Perception, learning, and cognition (pp. 247–266). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000012-012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krause, M. A., Trevino, S., Cripps, A., Chilton, K., Sower, E., & Taylor, J. P. (2019). Inclusive fitness does not impact the survival processing effect. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 6, 13–31. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.06.01.02.2019Google Scholar
Kroneisen, M., & Bell, R. (2018). Remembering the place with the tiger: Survival processing can enhance source memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 667–673. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1431-zGoogle Scholar
Kroneisen, M., & Erdfelder, E. (2011). On the plasticity of the survival processing effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37, 1553–1562. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024493Google Scholar
Kroneisen, M., Rummel, J., & Erdfelder, E. (2014). Working memory load eliminates the survival processing effect. Memory, 22, 92–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.815217Google Scholar
Laurino, J., & Kaczer, L. (2019). Animacy as a memory enhancer during novel word learning: evidence from orthographic and semantic memory tasks. Memory, 27, 820–828. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2019.1572195Google Scholar
McBride, D. M., Thomas, B. J., & Zimmerman, C. (2013). A test of the survival processing advantage in implicit and explicit memory tests. Memory and Cognition, 41, 862–871. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0304-yGoogle Scholar
Meinhardt, M. J., Bell, R., Buchner, S., & Röer, J. P. (2020). Adaptive memory: Is the animacy effect on memory due to richness of encoding? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 46, 416–426. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000733Google ScholarPubMed
Misirlisoy, M., Tanyas, H., & Atalay, N. B. (2019). Does survival context enhance memory for source? A within-subjects comparison. Memory, 27, 780–791. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2019.1566928Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S. (2005). The functionalist agenda in memory research. In Healy, A. F. (Ed.), Experimental cognitive psychology and its applications: Festschrift in honor of Lyle Bourne, Walter Kintsch, and Thomas Landauer (pp. 115–126). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10895-009Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S. (2014). Adaptive memory: Controversies and future directions. In Schwartz, B. L., Howe, M. L., Toglia, M. P., & Otgaar, H. (Eds.). What is adaptive about adaptive memory? (pp. 308–321). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199928057.001.0001Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S. (2015). Adaptive memory: Novel findings acquired through forward engineering. In Lindsay, D. S., Kelley, C. M., Yonelinas, A. P., & Roediger, H. L., III (Eds.), Remembering: Attributions, processes, and control in human memory: Papers in honor of Larry L. Jacoby (pp. 3–14). Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315752808Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., Coverdale, M. E., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2019). Adaptive memory: The mnemonic power of survival-based generation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45, 1970–1982. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000687Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2008). Adaptive memory: Remembering with a stone-age brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 239–243. https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1467-8721.2008.00582.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nairne, J. S., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2016). Adaptive memory: The evolutionary significance of survival processing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11, 496–511. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1745691616635613Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S., & Fernandes, N. L. (2017). Adaptive memory. In Byrne, J. H. (Ed.), Learning and memory: A comprehensive reference (2nd ed., vol. 2) (pp. 279–293). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.21060-2Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S., Gregory, K. J., & VanArsdall, J. E. (2009). Adaptive memory: Fitness-relevance and the hunter-gatherer mind. Psychological Science, 20, 740–746. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02356.xGoogle Scholar
Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S., & Thompson, S. R. (2008). Adaptive memory: The comparative value of survival processing. Psychological Science, 19, 176–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02064.xGoogle Scholar
Nairne, J. S., Thompson, S. R., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2007). Adaptive memory: Survival processing enhances retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 33, 263–273. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.33.2.263Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., VanArsdall, J. E., & Cogdill, M. (2017). Remembering the living: Episodic memory is tuned to animacy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, 22–27. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0963721416667711Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., VanArsdall, J. E., Pandeirada, J. N. S., & Blunt, J. R. (2012). Adaptive memory: Enhanced location memory after survival processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 38, 495–501. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025728Google Scholar
Nairne, J. S., VanArsdall, J. E., Pandeirada, J. N. S., Cogdill, M., & LeBreton, J. M. (2013). Adaptive memory: The mnemonic value of animacy. Psychological Science, 24, 2099–2105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613480803Google Scholar
Pandeirada, J. N. S., Fernandes, N. L., Vasconcelos, M., & Nairne, J. S. (2017). Adaptive memory: Remembering potential mates. Evolutionary Psychology, 15, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1474704917742807Google Scholar
Popp, E. Y., & Serra, M. J. (2016). Adaptive memory: Animacy enhances free recall but impairs cued recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42, 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1037/e528942014-958Google Scholar
Popp, E. Y., & Serra, M. J. (2018). The animacy advantage for free-recall performance is not attributable to greater mental arousal. Memory, 26, 89–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1326507Google Scholar
Premack, D. (1959). Toward empirical behavior laws: 1. Positive reinforcement. Psychological Review, 66, 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040891Google Scholar
Richardson, R. C. (2007). Evolutionary psychology as maladapted psychology. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/7464.001.0001Google Scholar
Röer, J., Bell, R., & Buchner, A. (2013). Is the survival-processing memory advantage due to richness of encoding? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39, 1294–1302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031214Google Scholar
Sandry, J., Trafimow, D., Marks, M. J., & Rice, S. (2013). Adaptive memory: Evaluating alternative forms of fitness-relevant processing in the survival processing paradigm. PLoS ONE., 8(4) E60868. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060868Google Scholar
Savine, A. C., Scullin, M. K., & Roediger, H. L., III. (2011). Survival processing of faces. Memory & Cognition, 39, 1359–1373. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-011-0121-0Google Scholar
Schaller, M., & Park, J. H. (2011). The behavioral immune system (and why it matters). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 99–103. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0963721411402596Google Scholar
Schmitt, D. P., & Pilcher, J. J. (2004). Evaluating evidence of psychological adaptation: How do we know one when we see one? Psychological Science, 15, 642–649. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00734.xGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, B. L. (2019). Using natural ecology to predict higher cognition in human and non-human primates. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 6, 344–354. https://doi.org/10.26451/abc.06.04.13.2019Google Scholar
Scofield, J. E., Buchanan, E. M., & Kostic, B. (2017). A meta-analysis of the survival-processing advantage in memory. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25, 997–1012. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-017-1346-0Google Scholar
Seamon, J. G., Bohn, J. M., Coddington, I. E., Ebling, M. C., Grund, E. M., Haring, C. T., Jang, S.-J., Kim, D., Liong, C., Paley, F. M., Pang, L. K., & Siddique, A. H. (2012). Can survival processing enhance story memory? Testing the generalizability of the adaptive memory framework. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 38, 1045–1056. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027090Google Scholar
Seitz, B. M., Blaisdell, B. M., Polack, C. P., & Miller, R. R. (2019). The role of biological significance in human learning and memory. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 32. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/67k6r0n9Google Scholar
Seitz, B. M., Polack, C. P., & Miller, R. R. (2018). Adaptive memory: Is there a reproduction-processing effect? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44, 1167–1179. https://doi.org/10.1037%2Fxlm0000513Google Scholar
Seitz, B. M., Polack, C. P., & Miller, R. R. (2020). Adaptive memory: Generality of the parent processing effect and effects of biological relatedness on recall. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 6, 246–260. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-020-00233-1Google Scholar
Sherry, D. F., & Schacter, D. L. (1987). The evolution of multiple memory systems. Psychological Review, 94, 439–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.4.439Google Scholar
Shettleworth, S. J. (2010). Cognition, evolution, and behavior (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Slamecka, N. J. (1985). Ebbinghaus: Some associations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 11, 414–435. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.11.3.414Google Scholar
Smith, D. S., Jones, B. C., Feinberg, D. R., & Allan, K. (2012). A modulatory effect of male voice pitch on long-term memory in women: Evidence of adaptation for mate choice? Memory and Cognition, 40, 135–144. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-011-0136-6Google Scholar
Stillman, C. M., Coane, J. H., Profaci, C. P., Howard, J. H., & Howard, D. V. (2014). The effects of healthy aging on the mnemonic benefit of survival processing. Memory & Cognition, 42, 175–185. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0353-2 https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0353-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tinbergen, N. (1963) On the methods and aims of ethology. Ethology, 20, 410–433. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01161.xGoogle Scholar
Tse, C.-S., & Altarriba, J. (2010). Does survival processing enhance implicit memory? Memory and Cognition, 38, 1110–1121. https://doi.org/10.3758/MC.38.8.1110CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tybur, J. M., Lieberman, D., Kurzban, R., & DiScioli, P. (2013). Disgust: Evolved function and structure. Psychological Review, 120, 65–84. https://doi.org./10.1037/a0030778Google Scholar
VanArsdall, J. E. (2016). Exploring animacy as a mnemonic dimension. Open Access Dissertations. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/873Google Scholar
Van Buren, B., & Scholl, B. J. (2017). Minds in motion in memory: Enhanced spatial memory driven by the perceived animacy of simple shapes. Cognition, 163, 87–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.02.006Google Scholar
Williams, G. C. (1966). Adaptation and natural selection: A critique of some current evolutionary thought. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185507Google Scholar
Zhang, J., Li, X., & Guo, C. (2020). The neurocognitive features in survival processing: An ERP study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 149, 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.10.012Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×