Effect of Temporal Focus on the Recall of Expectancy-Consistent and Expectancy-Inconsistent Information

This research examined the impact of temporal focus on the recall of information that is consistent or inconsistent with an expectation. A consistent pattern of results across 4 experiments indicates that when Ss' expectations are temporally unfocused, better memory for consistent information is observed. In contrast, when expectations are focused in time-that is, Ss know when the relevant events are likely to occur-recall for consistent and inconsistent information is more balanced. Experiment 4 tied these recall findings to the amount of processing devoted to consistent and inconsistent events. When expectations were temporally unfocused, processing time and recall was greater for the confirmatory information. When expectations were temporally focused, more equivalent processing time and recall of consistent and inconsistent information was observed. Discussion centers on the role of temporal focus as a determinant of whether an event is one-sided or two-sided.