Effects of item-specific and relational information on hypermnesic recall (original) (raw)

1989, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

The role of encoding conditions in producing hypermnesia (increased recall over successive trials) was examined by manipulating the availability of item-specific and relational information at encoding. Our findings demonstrate that encodings providing item-specific information (e.g., elaborative encodings) produce hypermnesia by facilitating the recovery of new items over trials, whereas encodings providing relational information (e.g., organizational encodings) produce hypermnesia by protecting against the loss of previously recalled items. Thus, the effects of encodings on hypermnesia may be understood by considering the type of trace information they make available. Experiments employing multiple recall trials have repeatedly confirmed a commonly experienced aspect of memory: the accessibility of information in memory changes over repeated testing (e.g., Ballard, 1913; Brown, 1923; Tulving, 1964). Items not recalled on one trial may be recalled on another (item gain), whereas items recalled on early trials may not be recalled on later attempts (item loss). In some multitrial studies, item gains are offset by item losses, so that from trial to trial the number of items recalled remains approximately constant (e.g., Rosner, 1970; Tulving, 1967). In other studies, however, item gains exceed item losses, resulting in a net increase in items recalled over successive trials. This phenomenon has been labeled hypermnesia (Erdelyi & Becker, 1974). Most investigators seeking an explanation for the occurrence of hypermnesia have focused their attention on the role of encoding conditions. From the numerous studies documenting hypermnesia (for reviews see Erdelyi, 1984; Payne, 1987; Roediger & Challis, 1989), three classes of encodings have been found reliably to produce hypermnesic recall. These include tasks that encourage subjects to form mental images of the to-be-remembered stimulus items (e.g., Erdelyi, Finkelstein, Herrell, Miller, & Thomas, 1976; Payne & Roediger, 1987; Roediger & Thorpe, 1978), tasks that encourage subjects to elaborate stimulus items by relating them to extralist material in memory (e.g.