Toward a unified account of spacing effects in explicit cued-memory tasks.

Full Abstract

Memory for repeated items improves when presentations are spaced during study. This effect is found in memory tasks using different types of material, paradigms, and participant populations. Although several explanations have been proposed, none explains the presence of spacing effects in cued-memory tasks for unfamiliar stimuli. Two experiments assessed the spacing effect on a yes-no recognition-memory task using nonwords and words as targets. The main results showed that changing the font between repeated occurrences of targets at study removed the spacing effect for nonwords only. A 3rd experiment using lexical decision showed that the font manipulation reduced repetition priming of nonwords when items were repeated at Lag 0. These results suggest that short-term perceptual priming supports spacing effects in cued-memory tasks for unfamiliar stimuli.

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Author information

Author/s: Russo, Riccardo (R); Mammarella, Nicola (N); Avons, S E (SE);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom. rrusso(-atsign-)essex.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 28 (issue 5) : pp 819-29

Dates: Created 2002/09/10; Completed 2003/03/20; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12219792, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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