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Adjusting The Lens Of Encoding: How An Implicit Encoding Context Shapes the Details Recalled In Event Memory

Poster Session E - Monday, March 9, 2026, 2:30 – 4:30 pm PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Louise Van Dijck^1,2, Jamie Snytte¹, Jade Gordon³, Signy Sheldon¹; ¹McGill University, ²Ghent University, ³Cornell University

The context of encoding is known to impact memory. For event memories, like those we experience in daily life, encoding manipulations are known to change the types of details that are recalled upon retrieval. While prior work has examined the impact of explicit encoding manipulations on event memory retrieval, less work has examined the way an implicit encoding context can inform later memory. In the current study, we address this knowledge gap by assessing the impact of providing different types of background knowledge (conceptual or perceptual information) prior to an event on subsequent detail recall. In a between-subjects design, 64 participants first listened to audio descriptions of the general premise of a TV series (WKRP in Cincinnati) that were described with either conceptual or perceptual details. Next, participants watched a 5 minute video excerpt from one episode of the series. Then after a short 5 minute delay, and a longer 24 hours delay, participants recalled the video in detail. These recollections were scored for the presence of central details, those related to the unfolding story, as well as peripheral details that described more specific information. Peripheral details were subcategorized as event, conceptual and perceptual. Results revealed limited group differences for central details, but stronger differences in the relative proportion and type of peripheral details across conditions and retrieval timepoints. The results suggest that implicitly altering how prior knowledge is represented at encoding will change the way a related event is perceived and recalled from memory.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic