RESEARCH ARTICLE Information Retrieval during Free Listing Is Biased by Memory: Evidence from Medicinal Plants Daniel Carvalho Pires de Sousa1, Gustavo Taboada Soldati2, Julio Marcelino Monteiro3, Thiago Antonio de Sousa Arau jo4, Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque1* 1 LaboratoÂrio de Ecologia e EvolucËão de Sistemas SocioecoloÂgicos (LEA), Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Av. Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, 52171±900, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil, 2 Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Rua Jose LourencËo Kelmer, s/n, Martelos, 36036±330, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brasil, 3 Universidade Federal do PiauõÂ, Campus UniversitaÂrio Ministro PetroÃnio Portella, s/n, Ininga, 64049±550, Teresina, PiauõÂ, Brasil, 4 LaboratoÂrio de a11111 Produtos Naturais (Lapronat), Departamento de FarmaÂcia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Professor Moraes Rego, nÊ 1235, Cidade UniversitaÂria, 50670±901, Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Free listing is a methodological tool that is widely used in various scientific disciplines. A Citation: Sousa DCPd, Soldati GT, Monteiro JM, typical assumption of this approach is that individual lists reflect a subset of total knowledge ArauÂjo TAdS, Albuquerque UP (2016) Information and that the first items listed are the most culturally important. However, little is known Retrieval during Free Listing Is Biased by Memory: Evidence from Medicinal Plants. PLoS ONE 11(11): about how cognitive processes influence free lists. In this study, we assess how recent e0165838. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0165838 memory of use, autonoetic and anoetic memory, and long-term associative memory can Editor: Neil R. Smalheiser, University of Illinois- affect the composition and order of items in free lists and evaluate whether free lists indi- Chicago, UNITED STATES cate the most important items.