Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Memory. 2022 Feb;30(2):147-160. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1995877. Epub 2021 Oct 26.
Enactment is an encoding strategy in which performing an action related to a target item enhances memory for that word, relative to verbal encoding. Precisely how this motor activity aids recall is unclear. We examined whether the action created during encoding needed to be semantically relevant to the to-be-remembered word, to enhance memory. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to either (a) enact, (b) perform unrelated motoric gestures, or (c) read forty-five action verbs. On a subsequent free-recall test, memory for enacted words was significantly higher relative to words read, or encoded with unrelated gestures. In Experiment 2, to reduce the ambiguity associated with initiating an unrelated gesture, participants were instructed to write target words in the air. Results were similar to Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, we replicated the results of Experiment 2 using video conferencing to record the onset time of action initiation for enacted, unrelated gesture, and read trials. Results showed that planning of meaningful actions may also contribute to the memory performance as evidenced by a longer onset time to initiate an action on enactment relative to gesturing and reading trials. These findings suggest that planning and executing meaningful actions drive the enactment benefit.
实施是一种编码策略，其中与目标项目相关的执行动作相对于口头编码增强了对该单词的记忆。这种运动活动如何帮助回忆还不清楚。我们研究了在编码过程中创建的动作是否需要与要记住的单词在语义上相关，以增强记忆。在实验 1 中，要求参与者（a）实施，（b）执行不相关的运动手势，或（c）阅读四十五个动作动词。在随后的自由回忆测试中，与阅读或与不相关的手势编码的单词相比，实施的单词的记忆明显更高。在实验 2 中，为了减少与发起不相关手势相关的歧义，要求参与者在空中书写目标单词。结果与实验 1 相似。在实验 3 中，我们使用视频会议复制了实验 2 的结果，以记录实施、不相关手势和阅读试验中动作启动的起始时间。结果表明，计划有意义的动作也可能有助于记忆表现，因为与手势和阅读试验相比，实施试验中启动动作的起始时间更长。这些发现表明，计划和执行有意义的动作推动了实施的好处。
