title: The production effect in recognition memory: Weakening strength can strengthen distinctiveness.
abstract: Producing items (e.g., by saying them aloud or typing them) can improve recognition memory. To evaluate whether production increases item distinctiveness and/or memory strength we compared this effect as a function of the percentage of items that participants typed at encoding (i.e., 0%, 20%, 50%, 80%, and 100%). Experiment 1 revealed a strength-based pattern: The production effect was similar across pure-list (i.e., 0% vs. 100%) and mixed-list (i.e., 20%, 50%, 80%) designs, and there was no observed influence of statistical distinctiveness (i.e., 20% vs. 80%). In Experiment 2, we increased the study time for unproduced items to minimise the strength difference between produced and unproduced items. The manipulation attenuated the pure-list effect without eliminating the mixed-list effect, providing support for the inference that the mixed-list effect reflects distinctiveness. An influence of statistical distinctiveness also emerged: The mixed-list effect was larger when participants produced only 20%, rather than 80%, of the items. These findings suggest that both strength and distinctiveness contribute to the production effect in recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Calgary.
authors.forename: Glen E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Bodner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba.
authors.forename: Randall K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Jamieson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba.
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Cormack
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
authors.forename: Dawn-Leah
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bernstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult