The enactment effect is due to more than guesses and beliefs.
Three experiments examined whether the enactment effect - that is, higher recall of enacted than of corresponding non-enacted information - might be explained by guessing rates and performance expectancies. Experiment 1 checked whether the guessing rate of target items would be higher as a result of a narrowed sampling space defined by the enactment condition. By means of pre-experimental instructions, the subjects in Experiments 2 and 3 were induced to expect respectively a positive enactment effect, a negative enactment effect, or no difference in amount of recall of enacted and non-enacted materials. Experiment 2 had a within-subject design, Experiment 3 a between-subject design. The experiments failed to support the proposed explanations.
Helstrup
Tore
T
University of Oslo, Norway. tore.helstrup@psykologi.uio.no
D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D012494:Sampling Studies