Effect of generation on a word-identification task.

The generation of words from word fragments, both with and without context cues, was used as an encoding operation for investigating contributions to word ("perceptual") identification. Exp 1, with isolated words, showed that a generation effect may obtain in word identification if test items are presented in fragmented form. Exp 2, with context cues, also showed a generation effect, but only when an identical study cue was presented shortly before the identification trial; use of a different (but associatively related) cue produced equivalent identification performance between read and generated items. In identification "catch trials" of Exp 3, nonstudied items were tested after a previously studied cue was presented. Results showed depressed but equivalent levels of performance between read and generate groups; however, incorrect identifications were associated with a tendency to respond with previously generated items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation and priming effects in word-fragment completion.

Priming effects in word-fragment completion were enhanced when at study subjects generated rather than read the words. This generation effect occurred when the same fragments used at test were also used in generating the words at study. When different fragments were used at study and at test, generate and read conditions gave rise to similiar priming effects, but these same study conditions led to typical generation effects in recognition memory. These findings of a generation effect in an implicit as opposed to an explicit memory test support the view that generating a study item may enhance data-driven as well as conceptually driven processing, and they provide further evidence of the usefulness of this process distinction in relating implicit to explicit memory performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Familiarity and lexicality as determinants of the generation effect.

Two experiments addressed the question of whether representation in the mental lexicon is a sufficient condition for obtaining the generation effect. Contrary to an earlier report (Nairne, Pusen, & Widner, 1985), our experiments showed that low-frequency words did produce significant retention advantages when generated, but only when items were rated as highly familiar to the subjects; when low-frequency words were recognized as words but were rated low in familiarity, no generation effect emerged. Overall, our results support the position that lexical representation is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to produce the generation advantage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive Operations in the Generation Effect on a Recall Test: Role of Aging and Divided Attention.

Generation effect (generated words are better memorized than read words) of anagrams, rhymes, and associates of target words was examined in young, elderly, and very old subjects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that only young subjects benefit from the generation effect in a free-recall test when the rule is of a phonological nature. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 showed that the generation effect of rhymes was due to a resources-dependent self-initiated process. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that in a divided-attention situation, generation effect of rhymes is not significant in young subjects, but that the generation effect of semantic associates remains significant for both groups (Experiment 5). The results are discussed within the environmental support framework and the transfer-appropriate processing framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigating dissociations among memory measures: Support for a transfer-appropriate processing framework.

In three experiments subjects performed one of five tasks after an initial study phase. Results showed that performance on conceptually driven retention tasks (those requiring the processing of meaning) was consistently dissociated from that on data-driven tasks (those relying more on analysis of physical features). Performance on conceptually driven tasks of free recall, semantic cued recall, and a task of answering general knowledge questions was enhanced most when target items had been generated rather than read at study (Experiment 1) and when subjects formed mental images of item referents at study (Experiment 3). Conversely, the data driven tasks of word fragment completion and recall using graphemic cues were performed best when subjects read rather than generated items at input (Experiment 1) and when the physical features of study and test items matched in terms of modality (Experiment 2) and typography (Experiment 3). These findings indicate that dissociations among memory tasks are better explained in terms of the degree of overlap between mental operations at study and test than in terms of various memory systems underlying different tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contributions of processing fluency to repetition effects in masked word identification.

Examined how automatic retrieval of an event influenced task performance, in 7 experiments. 224 Canadian undergraduates were presented with 2 sets of common English words (critical and filler) in 3 experimental phases. Free report (FRT), forced choice (FC) and single-probe test (SPT) trials were carried out. Ss identified the target word in a masked visual condition by responding orally in FRT and FC trials, and by pressing 1 of 2 buttons in the SPT trial. Pretest and critical trials were also carried out in some experiments. Results show that only FRT yielded a consistent effect of prior exposure. Although there was a small advantage for old items in FC and SPT, the effect was significant only in Exp 7. It is concluded that a briefly presented target word can automatically retrieve memory for an earlier encoding episode involving that word. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The generation effect with nonwords.

This article challenges the view that the generation effects occur only for items represented in semantic memory. We obtained generation effects regardless of the lexical status of the cue used to generate the target and regardless of the lexical status of the target. Generation effects were comparable for wordlike and unwordlike nonwords. The effect for nonwords depended on displaying the target at the end of each generate trial. We argue that such feedback gives subjects appropriate visual experience with nonwords; otherwise, the disadvantage of never seeing the generated nonwords could overwhelm any memorial advantage conferred by generating. Generated items also suffer when study and test formats differ more for generated than for read items; we demonstrated that changing format reduces recognition for nonwords. We conclude that previous failures to demonstrate generation effects with nonwords reflect confoundings with such familiarity factors and that the generation effect does exist for nonwords. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of generation on indirect measures of memory.

Subjects either read words (CHIMP) or generated words ("a small ape—C') during the study phase of three experiments. The effects of these encoding tasks on performance in two indirect, priming tests—word completion and word identification—were observed. The word completion test is a version of word stem completion in which subjects are shown the initial four letters of a five-letter word (e.g., CHIM_: CHIMP, CHIME) and are asked to add one letter to produce the first word that comes to mind. In word identification, subjects are shown a word briefly and are asked to identify it. Systematic comparisons of the two tests within single experiments showed that generation, either to semantic cues or to orthographic cues, had different effects on performance in the two tests: Word identification performance was lower for words generated rather than read, whereas word completion performance for words generated was indistinguishable from performance for words read. These results suggest that performance in different indirect tests depends on the processing of different types of information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Now you see it, now you don't: Repetition blindness for nonwords.

Repetition blindness (RB) for nonwords has been found in some studies, but not in others. The authors propose that the discrepancy in results is fueled by participant strategy; specifically, when rapid serial visual presentation lists are short and participants are explicitly informed that some trials will contain repetitions, participants are able to use partial orthographic information to correctly guess repetitions on repetition trials while avoiding spurious repetition reports on control trials. The authors first replicated V. Coltheart and R. Langdon's (2003) finding of RB for words but repetition advantage for nonwords (Experiment 1). When all participants were encouraged to utilize partial information in a same/different matching task along with an identification task, a repetition advantage was observed for both words and nonwords (Experiment 2). When guessing of repetitions was made detectable by including non-identical but orthographically similar items in the experiments, the repetition advantage disappeared; instead, RB was found for both words and nonwords (Experiments 3 and 4). Finally, when experiments did not contain any identical items, participants almost never reported repetitions, and reliable RB was found for orthographically similar words and nonwords (Experiments 5 and 6). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Directed forgetting meets the production effect: Distinctive processing is resistant to intentional forgetting.

The production effect refers to the fact that, relative to reading a word silently, reading a word aloud during study improves explicit memory. The authors tested the distinctiveness account of this effect using the item method directed forgetting procedure. If saying words aloud makes them more distinctive, then they should be more difficult to forget on cue than should words read silently. Participants studied a list of words by reading half aloud and half silently; half of the words in each of these subsets were followed by a Remember instruction and half were followed by a Forget instruction. There was a robust production effect for both Remember and Forget words on an explicit recognition test. Critically, however, a directed forgetting effect was observed only for words read silently; words read aloud at study were unaffected by memory instruction. An implicit speeded reading test showed equal priming for all studied items. This pattern supports a distinctiveness account of the production effect: Words processed distinctively during production are not influenced by subsequent rehearsal differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive operations and the generation effect.

The present experiments were designed to test a cognitive operations hypothesis of the generation effect, or memorial advantage for stimuli that are generated rather than simply read. In two experiments two aspects of generation were manipulated independently: (a) whether the to-be-remembered stimulus was absent (and therefore produced by the subject) or present (and therefore not produced) and (b) whether the relevant cognitive operations were performed by the subject or were instead performed by another agent. Specifically, subjects were given simple multiplication problems with the answers either absent or present in the original problems and with the calculations performed either by themselves or by another agent (either the experimenter or a calculator). The first experiment tested immediate recall of the answers, and the second experiment tested both recall and recognition of the answers after retention intervals up to a week. In all cases, a highly significant retention advantage was found for the tasks requiring multiplication operations by the subjects themselves as opposed to another agent, but there was no main effect for whether the answer was absent or present in the original problem. We discuss the theoretical implications of these results with respect to the generation effect as well as the practical implications with respect to using a calculator in learning the multiplication facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When does generation enhance memory for location?

Generation is thought to enhance both item-specific and relational processing of generated targets as compared with read words (M. A. McDaniel & P. J. Waddill, 1990). Generation facilitates encoding of the cue-target relation and sometimes boosts encoding of relations across list items. Of interest is whether generation can also increase the encoding of target-location associations. Because the literature on this point is mixed, 3 procedural differences between 2 studies (E. J. Marsh, G. Edelman, & G. H. Bower, 2001; N. W. Mulligan, 2004) were identified and manipulated. A positive generation effect was found for location memory, but this effect was reduced when subjects wrote down the study words and when the filler task involved generation. Generation can enhance location memory in addition to item memory but only if the experimental parameters do not interfere with the processing benefits of generation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediate serial recall of mixed-modality lists.

Seven experiments are reported in which subjects were tested for immediate serial recall of mixed-modality lists. On mixed auditory-visual lists, there was an advantage for auditory items at all serial positions. This was due to both a facilitation of auditory items and an inhibition of visual items on mixed lists, as compared with single-modality lists. When presented on a list containing items read silently, recall of items that were silently mouthed by the subject demonstrated patterns similar to those found with auditory items. When presented on a list containing items read aloud, recall of mouthed items showed patterns similar to those found with silently read items. The auditory advantage on mixed lists was found even when the list items were acoustically similar or identical and was not reduced by midlist auditory suffixes. The results suggest that modality differences in recall of mixed-modality lists are based on information different from that responsible for modality differences in recall of single-modality lists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation effects in frequency judgment.

The generation effect is the advantage in memory for information that is self-produced, rather than read. Seven experiments studied this effect on tasks requiring memory for frequency of occurrence. Generation effects were found on both relative and absolute frequency judgment and for both rhyming and letter-switching generation tasks. No generation effect was found on items at the lowest true frequency, when repetitions were massed, when nonwords were used as stimuli, or when subjects were given accurate frequency information during list presentation. These results are discussed in terms of a multiple-trace account of frequency information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct versus indirect tests of memory for source: Judgments of modality.

We studied the relation between performance on direct versus indirect tests of memory for modality. Subjects read or heard words in a mixed list and then were tested by visual perceptual identification (the indirect test) and direct report of items as read, heard, or new. There was a dependent relation between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments, in accord with the hypothesis that subjects base their judgments of modality on relative perceptual fluency. In Experiment 2, we attempted to change the degree of dependence by providing subjects with an alternative basis for modality judgments. Subjects given a mnemonic to encode modality exhibited less dependence between perceptual identification performance and modality judgments than did subjects who encoded modality incidentally. The relation between direct and indirect tests of memory for source characteristics depends on the basis used for each. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery Rating of 1,000 Frequently Used Words.

One thousand frequently used words were rated for imagery by adult subjects. Sixty-three 5-7-year-old kindergartners and first graders were then taught to read (pronounce) 756 of these words. Each subject received a different set of 12 words, but all received 4 words rated high in imagery, 4 medium and 4 low. No subject received words that he could already read. Results indicated that the imagery rating of words was significantly related to the subjects' ability to learn to read the words. It is concluded that imagery ratings may have considerable value in the teaching of reading. The word list with imagery ratings is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judgments of origin and generation effects: Comparisons between young and elderly adults.

In 2 experiments, young and elderly adults were required to both read words, and generate words by completing word fragments. Subjects were then required to recognize those words that had been presented earlier; for those words that they recognized they judged whether the items had initially been presented in read or generate form. Generation effects (better memory for words that were generated as compared with words that were read) of similar magnitude were observed for both young and older adults. The older adults were consistently less accurate than the younger adults in their judgments of origin. In addition, the young adults exhibited a bias to respond "read" for these judgments. In contrast, the older adults either exhibited a neutral response bias or were biased to respond "generate." Age-related differences in the encoding or retrieval of information about cognitive operations do not provide a good account of the results. Alternative accounts are described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memorability judgments for high- and low-frequency words

Five experiments were conducted in order to examine subjects' judgments of the memorability of high- (HF) and low-frequency (LF) words in the context of a recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, the subjects were provided study/test experience with a list of HF and LF words prior to making memorability judgments for a new list of HF and LF items. The findings were consistent with previous evidence (Greene & Thapar, 1994; Wixted, 1992) suggesting that subjects are not explicitly aware of the greater recognition memorability of LF words. Experiments 2-5 embedded the memorability judgment task within the recognition test itself. In these experiments, the subjects consistently gave higher memorability ratings to LF items. The contrast between the pattern of results found when the subjects made their judgments at the time of list presentation (Experiment 1) and that when they made their judgments during the recognition test (Experiments 2-5) is consistent with recent evidence that even seemingly highly related metamnemonic judgments (e.g., ease of learning judgments vs. judgments of learning for the same items) may be based on very different factors if they occur at different points in the study/test cycle. The present findings are also consistent with the possibility that very rapid retrieval of memorability information for HF and LF words may affect recognition decisions and may contribute to the recognition memory word frequency effect.     

The nature of word frequency effects on perceptual identification.

Four experiments, using a study–test paradigm, examined the effects of event presentation frequency on perceptual identification. In each cycle, subjects studied a list with different items presented from one to four or more times, then received identification tests of studied and nonstudied items. Pseudoword repetition (Experiments 1 and 4) produced a priming effect, that is, enhanced identification for presented items, and a repetition effect, that is, incremental improvements in identification for repeated items. In contrast, word repetition (Experiment 2, 3, and 4) produced priming but not repetition effects, a pattern that was not due to learning asymptotes or scaling distortions. We conclude that presentation frequency effects act on at least two distinct processing paths, selected on the basis of processing and task demands. Under conditions of simple exposure, perceptual enhancement is mediated, for codified events like words, primarily by nodal activation, and, for noncodified events like pseudowords, by information accumulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of attention at encoding on direct and indirect remembering

The relation between attention at encoding and direct (i.e., recognition) versus indirect (i.e., rapid reading) remembering was investigated. In Experiments 1 and 2, color of print indicated whether to read an individual word aloud or to ignore it. This attentional manipulation reduced direct but not indirect remembering for the ignored words relative to the attended words. Apparently direct remembering is extremely dependent on attention at encoding. In Experiment 3, however, presenting two words simultaneously at study, with color now signifying which word to read and which to ignore, eliminated this dissociative effect of attention. Ignored words were not remembered on either test, although attended words were remembered well on both. Mere exposure is not sufficient to produce indirect remembering: Stimuli must be attended. Ignoring one stimulus in favor of processing another stimulus that is simultaneously presented and equally salient may prevent even the minimal attentional requirements of indirect remembering from being met, let alone the more stringent requirements of direct remembering.