Win some, lose some: hypermnesia for actions reflects increased item-specific processing.
Memory for simple action phrases (e.g., "Break a match") improves when subjects perform the actions at study. The relative contribution of item-specific and relational processing to this enactment effect has been an issue of considerable debate. It was addressed in the present study by examining hypermnesia in a multiple-test free recall paradigm, based on the assumptions that item-specific processing increases the probability of interest gains and relational processing protects against interest forgetting (e.g., Burns, 1993; Klein, Loftus, Kihlstrom, & Aseron, 1989). It was found that the enactment condition produced both significantly more gains and more losses than did the nonenactment condition, resulting in a net gain (hypermnesia) for the enactment condition. The results suggest that enactment promotes item-specific processing at the expense of relational processing.
Olofsson
U
U
Umeå University, Sweden. uolofsson@cortex.psych.ubc.ca
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D014706:Verbal Learning