Direct versus indirect tests of memory: directed forgetting meets the generation effect

Subjects read 20 words and generated 20 others from definitions during a 40-item study phase. Production of each word was followed by an instruction to remember or to forget that word. In free recall, a direct test of memory, words that had been generated were recalled much better than words that ha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychonomic bulletin & review 2000-06, Vol.7 (2), p.354-359
Main Authors: MacLeod, C M, Daniels, K A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Cues
Female
Humans
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Reading
Refractory Period, Psychological
Word Association Tests
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Summary:Subjects read 20 words and generated 20 others from definitions during a 40-item study phase. Production of each word was followed by an instruction to remember or to forget that word. In free recall, a direct test of memory, words that had been generated were recalled much better than words that had been read. The remember-forget instructional manipulation affected read words but not generated words. In speeded word reading, an indirect test of memory, all studied words showed priming, but read words showed more priming than generated words. Here, the effect of remember versus forget instructions appeared only for generated words. These dissociations of a direct and an indirect test indicate that two powerful encoding manipulations affect separable processes to which these tests are differentially sensitive.
ISSN:1069-9384
1531-5320
DOI:10.3758/BF03212993