Cognitive Operations in the Generation Effect on a Recall Test: Role of Aging and Divided Attention.

Abstract

Generation effect (generated words are better memorized than read words) of anagrams, rhymes, and associates of target words was examined in young, elderly, and very old subjects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that only young subjects benefit from the generation effect in a free-recall test when the rule is of a phonological nature. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 showed that the generation effect of rhymes was due to a resources-dependent self-initiated process. Experiments 4 and 5 showed that in a divided-attention situation, generation effect of rhymes is not significant in young subjects, but that the generation effect of semantic associates remains significant for both groups (Experiment 5). The results are discussed within the environmental support framework and the transfer-appropriate processing framework.

Structural and Metabolic Correlates of Episodic Memory in Relation to the Depth of Encoding in Normal Aging

“…Memory decline may also be linked to the inefficient initiation of deep processing during encoding. However, if deep encoding is induced (e.g., by inducing a semantic processing of the items; see Fay, Isingrini, Ragot, & Pouthas, 2005;Allan, Robb, & Rugg, 2000;Craik & Tulving, 1975;Craik & Lockhart, 1972, p. 675), one can observe an improvement in recall performance, particularly in elderly subjects who are then capable of achieving the same retrieval levels as younger subjects (Taconnat & Isingrini, 2004;Isingrini & Taconnat, 1997;Craik & Jennings, 1992).…”

The generation effect: Activating broad neural circuits during memory encoding

“…The benefits of generation have been observed for many kinds of materials, including verbal information (Bertsch et al, 2007; Slamecka and Graf, 1978), arithmetic problems (Smith and Healy, 1998) and pictures (Kinjo and Snodgrass, 2000). It has also been useful as a way of facilitating memory encoding in older adults (Taconnat and Isingrini, 2004; Taconnat et al, 2006) and neurological patients (Lengenfelder et al, 2007; Souliez et al, 1996). …”

Source-monitoring judgments about anagrams and their solutions: Evidence for the role of cognitive operations information in memory

“…Thus, the advantage for difficult anagrams was expected for both task conditions (solve or construct). A nongenerate control condition (e.g., reading words) was not included in Experiment 1 because the benefit for generating solutions, in comparison with simply reading words, is well documented (e.g., Jacoby, 1991;Taconnat & Isingrini, 2004).…”