Examining the dynamics of strategic search from long-term memory

- Dynamics of strategic search from long-term memory was examined.
- In-the-moment strategies were assessed via thought probes.
- Strategy use changed both within and between tasks.
- Individual differences in strategy use and working memory predicted performance.

In two experiments the dynamic nature of strategic search from long-term memory was examined. Participants retrieved exemplars from various categories over several minutes. Periodically during retrieval participants were presented with a probe asking what strategies, if any, they were currently using to retrieve the desired information. This novel thought probe technique allowed for insights into the nature of in-the-moment retrieval strategies. Across both experiments it was found that participants reported using a variety of strategies, but depending on the task certain strategies were used more often than others. In particular, some strategies were used more frequently in one task than another, whereas other strategies seemed to cut across tasks. Furthermore, examining the time course of strategies suggested that participants often started off using one strategy, but then switched to using other strategies during the retrieval period. Finally, individual differences in general retrieval abilities were shown to be due to unique and joint contributions of search strategies and working memory capacity. These results provide evidence for the notion that when retrieving information from long-term memory, participants use various search strategies that are tailored to the task at hand and these strategies dynamically change throughout the retrieval period.