Abstract
Self-generated information is typically remembered better than perceived information (the generation effect). Experimental design produces an important limiting condition for this effect: Generation enhances recall in within-subjects designs, but typically not in between-subjects designs. However, Mulligan (2001) found that the generation effect emerged over repeated recall tests in a betweensubjects design, calling into question the generality of this limiting condition. Two experiments further delineated the emergent generation effect. Experiment 1 demonstrated that this effect does not require multiple discrete recall tests but may emerge on a single recall test of long duration. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the negative generation effect (a reversal of the typical generation effect produced under certain conditions) is abolished by multiple recall tests. In both experiments, the generate condition produced greater hypermnesia (increased recall over tests) than did the read condition.
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This research was partially supported by Grant 1-R03-MH61324-01 from NIMH.
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Mulligan, N.W., Duke, M.D. Positive and negative generation effects, hypermnesia, and total recall time. Memory & Cognition 30, 1044–1053 (2002). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194322
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194322