https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000267

">
 

Document Type

Article (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication Date

2016

Abstract

The elaborative retrieval account of retrieval-based learning proposes that retrieval enhances retention because the retrieval process produces the generation of semantic mediators that link cues to target information. We tested two assumptions that form the basis of this account: that semantic mediators are more likely to be generated during retrieval than during restudy and that the generation of mediators facilitates later recall of targets. Although these assumptions are often discussed in the context of retrieval processes, we noted that there was little prior empirical evidence to support either assumption. We conducted a series of experiments to measure the generation of mediators during retrieval and restudy and to examine the effect of the generation of mediators on later target recall. Across 7 experiments, we found that the generation of mediators was not more likely during retrieval (and may be more likely during restudy), and that the activation of mediators was unrelated to subsequent free recall of targets and was negatively related to cued recall of targets. The results pose challenges for both assumptions of the elaborative retrieval account.

Publication

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Volume

42

Issue

10

Pages

1573-1591

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Comments

© 2016, American Psychological Association. This manuscript is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors’ permission. The final version of record is available via its DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000267

Find at the Library

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.