Mem Cogn (2011) 39:1033–1041 DOI 10.3758/s13421-011-0091-2 Adaptive memory: Stereotype activation is not enough Henry Otgaar & Tom Smeets & Harald Merckelbach & Marko Jelicic & Bruno Verschuere & Anne-Marie Galliot & Laura van Riel Published online: 29 March 2011 # The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Studies have shown that survival processing leads to superior memorability. The aim of the present study was to examine whether this survival recall advantage might result from stereotype activation. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a pilot study and two experiments in which participants were primed with stereotypes (Experiment 1, professor and elderly person; Experiment 2, survival- stereotype). In Experiment 1, 120 undergraduates were randomly assigned to a survival, professor stereotype, elderly person stereotype, or moving scenario and rated words for their relevance to the imagined scenario. In Experiment 2, 75 undergraduates were given a survival, survival-stereotype (based on our pilot study), or moving scenario. Both experi- ments showed that survival processing leads to a greater recall advantage over the stereotype groups and control group. These data indicate that the mere activation of stereotypes cannot explain the survival recall advantage. Keywords Adaptive memory . Stereotypes . Memory . Evolution Introduction Memory scholars only seldom look at the functional characteristics of memory. In response to this empirical H. Otgaar (*) : T. Smeets : H. Merckelbach : M. Jelicic : B. Verschuere : A.-M. Galliot : L. van Riel Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands e-mail: Henry.Otgaar@maastrichtuniversity.nl B. Verschuere University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands void, researchers have recently begun to adopt a more functional approach to the study of memory (e.g., Nairne, Thompson, & Pandeirada, 2007; Otgaar, Smeets, & van Bergen, 2010; Weinstein, Bugg, & Roediger, 2008). Taken together, the findings of this recent research line seem to indicate that fitness-relevant processing results in superior memorability. In their original study, Nairne et al. (2007) asked undergraduates to imagine themselves being in a survival situation without any basic necessities and in fear of dangerous predators. Next, they received nouns (e.g., pepper, chair, catfish) that had to be rated for their relevance to the imagined situation. Finally, they were presented with a surprise free recall test. Nairne et al. (2007) showed that relative to control conditions in which the same words were rated from a different perspective (i.e., imagining moving, pleasantness, self-reference), recall performance was superior when the words were encoded for their fitness relevance. Since the first publication of Nairne et al. (2007), the issue of adaptive memory has rapidly attracted scientific interest. More specifically, researchers have examined under what conditions the survival recall advantage persists by comparing the survival scenario with a host of known memory enhancement techniques (e.g., Kang, McDermott, & Cohen, 2008; Nairne, Pandeirada, Gregory, & Van Arsdall, 2009; Weinstein et al., 2008). To give just a few examples, Nairne, Pandeirada, and Thompson (2008) compared the survival scenario with conditions in which participants had to rate words for imagery and self- reference, while Kang et al. used a control condition that mimicked the survival scenario with respect to arousal, novelty, and media exposure (i.e., planning a bank heist). In both studies, the mnemonic advantage of the survival scenario remained present. Moreover, this superiority was even obtained when other classes of stimuli were employed