Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 W Harrison St (MC 285), Chicago, IL, 60607, USA.
Mem Cognit. 2021 May;49(4):675-691. doi: 10.3758/s13421-020-01119-0. Epub 2021 Jan 7.
Self-generated information is often better remembered than read information (the generation effect). Recent research, however, has shown that generating information under fewer experimental constraints (i.e., fewer limitations on what can be generated) can increase the magnitude of the generation effect. This study systematically varied generation constraint to better understand the effects of constraint on memory. Participants encoded associated cue-target word pairs (above-below) on either the left or right side of a computer monitor. At encoding, generation constraint was manipulated by systematically varying the number of letters given to participants to generate the target word (i.e., above-below; option-choic_; bank-mon__; etc.). At retrieval, participants were given either a recognition, cued recall, or free recall test measuring both item (target word) and context memory (location on the computer monitor). Using mixed-effects logistic regression analyses to control for item-selection effects (e.g., participants producing idiosyncratic targets in some conditions relative to others), results indicated that generation constraint significantly influenced item, but not context (location) memory. The relationship between generation constraint and memory performance, however, differed by the type of memory test administered: Recognition data revealed a curvilinear relationship; cued recall showed a negative, linear relationship; and free recall showed no significant relationship. Overall, these findings provide more evidence that generation constraint has a strong yet complex effect on different aspects of memory, and further delineates some boundary conditions of the influence of generation constraint on memory.
自下而上的信息通常比阅读信息更容易被记住（生成效应）。然而，最近的研究表明，在较少的实验限制下生成信息（即，生成的内容不受太多限制）可以增加生成效应的幅度。本研究系统地改变了生成限制，以更好地理解限制对记忆的影响。参与者在计算机显示器的左侧或右侧编码相关的线索-目标词对（上下）。在编码时，通过系统地改变参与者生成目标词的字母数量来操纵生成限制（即上下；选项选择_；银行-监控_；等等）。在检索时，参与者接受识别、线索回忆或自由回忆测试，分别测量项目（目标词）和上下文记忆（计算机显示器上的位置）。使用混合效应逻辑回归分析来控制项目选择效应（例如，与其他条件相比，参与者在某些条件下生成独特的目标词），结果表明生成限制显著影响项目，但不影响上下文（位置）记忆。然而，生成限制与记忆表现之间的关系因所使用的记忆测试类型而异：识别数据显示出曲线关系；线索回忆显示出负线性关系；自由回忆则没有显示出显著的关系。总体而言，这些发现提供了更多证据表明，生成限制对记忆的不同方面具有强烈但复杂的影响，并进一步阐明了生成限制对记忆影响的一些边界条件。
