Social facilitation effects in recognition memory.

This study investigates the effects of observer presence on recognition memory. The number of learning repetitions, the degree of association of category-instance word pairs, and the time interval between acquisition and testing were manipulated. While the basic recognition data conformed well to previous findings in the learning and memory literature, predictions, derived from the drive theory of social facilitation found little support. Instead, study results seem best explained by descriptions of the cognitive processes employed by subjects both during the initial acquisition and later recognition of the category-instance pairs.