Tests of a Cognitive-Resource-Allocation Account of the Bizarreness Effect

The authors examined the role of cognitive-resource allocation in obtaining the often reported memory advantage for bizarre relative to common information by using the secondary-task method in 4 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, they investigated the relationship between differences in cognitive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of general psychology 2000-04, Vol.127 (2), p.117-144
Main Authors: Worthen, James B., Garcia-Rivas, Gabriella, Green, Charles R., Vidos, Rebecca A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention
Boundary conditions
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Experiments
Female
Humans
Imagination
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Psychological tests
Reaction Time
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Summary:The authors examined the role of cognitive-resource allocation in obtaining the often reported memory advantage for bizarre relative to common information by using the secondary-task method in 4 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, they investigated the relationship between differences in cognitive resource allocation during comprehension and in recall for common and bizarre information. In Experiments 3 and 4, they investigated the same relationship but measured cognitive-resource allocation during imaging rather than during comprehension. Although bizarre items required more time to comprehend and to image than did common items, the differences were not reliable predictors of the recall differences between item types. Furthermore, analyses of response latencies to a secondary task provided no compelling evidence in support of a cognitive-resource-allocation explanation of bizarreness effects. Implications for the development of a comprehensive model of the influence of bizarreness on memory are discussed.
ISSN:0022-1309
1940-0888
DOI:10.1080/00221300009598573