Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Adaptive Memory

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

  • 50 Accesses

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alonso, M. A., Díez, E., & Fernandez, A. (2021). A set of 750 words in Spanish characterized in two survival-related dimensions: Avoiding death and locating nourishment. Behavior Research Methods, 53, 153–166.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Altarriba, J., & Kazanas, S. A. (2019). Animacy and mortality salience: New directions for the adaptive memory literature. In T. K. Shackelford & V. Zeigler-Hill (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on death (pp. 63–76). Cham: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Aslan, A., & John, T. (2016). The development of adaptive memory: Young children show enhanced retention of animacy-related information. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 152, 343–350.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, R., & Buchner, A. (2010). Valence modulates source memory for faces. Memory & Cognition, 38(1), 29–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell, R., & Buchner, A. (2011). Source memory for faces is determined by their emotional evaluation. Emotion, 11(2), 249–261.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • 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, 490–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonin, P., Gelin, M., & Bugaiska, A. (2014). Animates are better remembered than inanimates: Further evidence from word and picture stimuli. Memory & Cognition, 42, 370–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonin, P., Gelin, M., Laroche, B., Méot, A., & Bugaiska, A. (2015). The “how” of animacy effects in episodic memory. Experimental Psychology, 62, 371–384.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonin, P., Thiebaut, G., Prokop, P., & Méot, A. (2019a). “In your head, zombie”: Zombies, predation and memory. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 7, 635–650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonin, P., Thiebaut, G., Witt, A., & Méot, A. (2019b). Contamination is “good” for your memory! Further evidence for the adaptive view of memory. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 5, 300–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchner, A., Bell, R., Mehl, B., & Musch, J. (2009). No enhanced recognition memory, but better source memory for faces of cheaters. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(3), 212–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, D. J., & Hart, J. (2014). Lying, dying, and remembering: The encoding processes involved in survival processing. In B. Schwartz, M. Howe, M. Toglia, & H. Otgaar (Eds.), What is adaptive about adaptive memory? (pp. 53–73). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, D. J., Hart, J., & Kramer, M. E. (2014a). Dying scenarios improve recall as much as survival scenarios. Memory, 22(1), 51–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, D. J., Hart, J., Kramer, M. E., & Burns, A. D. (2014b). Dying to remember, remembering to survive: Mortality salience and survival processing. Memory, 22(1), 36–50.

    Article  PubMed  Google 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.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Derringer, C. J., Scofield, J. E., & Kostic, B. (2017). Investigations of a reproductive processing advantage in memory. Memory & Cognition, 45, 983–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, L. A., Schaller, M., & Park, J. H. (2009). Perceived vulnerability to disease: Development and validation of a 15-item self-report instrument. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 541–546.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandes, N. L., Pandeirada, J. N. S., Soares, S. C., & Nairne, J. S. (2017). Adaptive memory: The mnemonic value of contamination. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(4), 451–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelin, M., Bugaiska, A., Méot, A., & Bonin, P. (2017). Are animacy effects in episodic memory independent of encoding instructions? Memory, 25, 2–18.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gelin, M., Bonin, P., Méot, A., & Bugaiska, A. (2018). Do animacy effects persist in memory for context? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 71, 965–974.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gretz, M. R., & Huff, M. J. (2019). Did you wash your hands? Evaluating memory for objects touched by health individuals and individuals with contagious and noncontagious diseases. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 33, 1271–1278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, J., & Burns, D. J. (2012). Nothing concentrates the mind: Thoughts of death improve recall. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 264–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou, C., & Liu, Z. (2019). The survival processing advantage of face: The memorization of the (un)trustworthy face contributes more to survival adaptation. Evolutionary Psychology, 17(2), 1474704919839726.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kazanas, S. A., & Altarriba, J. (2015). The survival advantage: Underlying mechanisms and extant limitations. Evolutionary Psychology, 13(2), 360–396.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kazanas, S. A., & Altarriba, J. (2017). Did our ancestors fear the unknown? The role of predation in the survival advantage. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 11(1), 83–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kazanas, S. A., & Altarriba, J. (2018). Predators as attention-grabbing. In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of evolutionary psychological science. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kazanas, S. A., Altarriba, J., & O’Brien, E. G. (2020). Paired-associate learning, animacy, and imageability in the survival advantage. Memory & Cognition, 48, 244–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, S. B. (2012). The effects of thoughts of survival and thoughts of death on recall in the adaptive memory paradigm. Memory, 22, 65–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kroneisen, M., Rummel, J., & Erdfelder, E. (2013). Working memory load eliminates the survival processing effect. Memory, 22, 92–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leding, J. K. (2018). The animacy advantage in memory: Manipulations of levels of processing and survival processing. The American Journal of Psychology, 131(3), 273–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leding, J. K. (2019a). Adaptive memory: Animacy, threat, and attention in free recall. Memory & Cognition, 47, 383–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leding, J. K. (2019b). Intentional memory and online data collection: A test of the effects of animacy and threat on episodic memory. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 31(1), 4–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leding, J. K. (2020). Animacy and threat in recognition memory. Memory & Cognition, 48, 788–799.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meinhardt, M. J., Bell, R., Buchner, A., & Röer, J. P. (2018). Adaptive memory: Is the animacy effect on memory due to emotional arousal? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(4), 1399–1404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meinhardt, M. J., Bell, R., Buchner, A., & 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(3), 416–426.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nairne, J. S. (2014). Adaptive memory: Controversies and future directions. In B. Schwartz, M. Howe, M. Toglia, & H. Otgaar (Eds.), What is adaptive about adaptive memory? (pp. 308–321). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nairne, J. S., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2016). Adaptive memory: The evolutionary significance of survival processing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 496–511.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nairne, J. S., Thompson, S. R., & Pandeirada, J. N. S. (2007). Adaptive memory: Survival processing enhances retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 263–273.

    PubMed  Google 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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pandeirada, J. N. S., Fernandes, N. L., Vasoncelos, M., & Nairne, J. S. (2017). Adaptive memory: Remembering potential mates. Evolutionary Psychology, 15, 1474704917742807.

    Article  PubMed  Google 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.

    PubMed  Google 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.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, D. C., & Friendly, M. (1986). Predicting which words get recalled: Measures of free recall, availability, goodness, emotionality, and pronounceability for 925 nouns. Memory & Cognition, 14(1), 79–94.

    Article  Google 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.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Savine, A. C., Scullin, M. K., & Roediger, H. L. (2011). Survival processing of faces. Memory and Cognition, 39, 1359–1373.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaller, M. (2006). Parasites, behavioral defenses, and social psychological mechanisms through which cultures are evoked. Psychological Inquiry, 17, 96–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, B. L., Howe, M. L., Toglia, M. P., & Otgaar, H. (2014). What is adaptive about adaptive memory? New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soderstrom, N. C., & McCabe, D. P. (2011). Are survival processing memory advantages based on ancestral priorities? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 18, 564–569.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • VanArsdall, J. E., Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S., & Blunt, J. R. (2013). Adaptive memory: Animacy processing produces mnemonic advantages. Experimental Psychology, 60, 172–178.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • VanArsdall, J. E., Nairne, J. S., Pandeirada, J. N. S., & Cogdill, M. (2015). Adaptive memory: Animacy effects persist in paired-associate learning. Memory, 23, 657–663.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, X., Li, H., Zhang, X., & Yang, J. (2018). Both the survival scenario and the death scenario improve memory recall regardless of the processing/priming paradigm. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 793.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling and Psychology, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN, USA

    Stephanie A. Kazanas

Authors
  1. Stephanie A. Kazanas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie A. Kazanas .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Kazanas, S.A. (2021). Adaptive Memory. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_2068-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_2068-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation