The emergence of item-specific encoding effects in between-subjects designs: perceptual interference and multiple recall tests.
The perceptual-interference effect occurs when interference with word perception (by backward masking) enhances later memory for the word. In terms of the item-specific-relational framework (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993), this effect is similar to other manipulations that enhance item-specific encoding (such as the generation effect). One similarity is that item-specific effects typically do not arise in between-subjects designs. However, the present experiment demonstrates that a between-subjects perceptual-interference effect emerges over multiple recall tests. Furthermore, perceptual interference produces both more intertest gains (indexing enhanced item-specific processing) and more intertest losses (indexing disrupted relational encoding) compared with the intact (control) condition. Finally, delaying the mask to a point at which it no longer interferes with perception (266 msec) eliminates both the perceptual-interference recall advantage and the increase in intertest gains. This condition still produces more intertest losses, however. Together, these results imply that a delayed mask disrupts relational encoding but produces no item-specific enhancement, dissociating the two effects of the perceptual-interference manipulation.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275-0442, USA. mulligan@mail.smu.edu
Neil W
NW
Mulligan
D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning