The generation effect: A meta-analytic review

Bertsch, Sharon; Pesta, Bryan J.; Wiscott, Richard; McDaniel, Michael A.

doi:10.3758/bf03193441

Cited by 268 publications

(267 citation statements)

References 103 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

236

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the present study investigated the effects of generation at both study and test, the generation and revelation effects have typically been studied as separate phenomena (but see Mulligan & Lozito, 2006, for a comparison of the two effects). A significant recognition advantage for words generated at study was observed in all five experiments reported here, confirming the robust nature of the generation effect in both within-groups and betweengroups designs (Begg, Snider, Foley, & Goddard, 1989;see Bertsch, Pesta, Wiscott, &McDaniel, 2007, andMulligan, 2004, for reviews). The generation effect was also reliably present up to 4 weeks after study.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

Investigating the encoding—retrieval match in recognition memory: Effects of experimental design, specificity, and retention interval

Dewhurst

Knott

2010

Mem Cogn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

Investigating the encoding—retrieval match in recognition memory: Effects of experimental design, specificity, and retention interval

Dewhurst

Knott

2010

Mem Cogn

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We have two points on this issue. First, an effect of generation in a pure-list design is certainly not unprecedented (see Bertsch, Pesta, Wiscott, & McDaniel, 2007, for a review). Second, from the perspective of the pressing the "o" key for old or the "n" key for new.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing a retrieval account of the generation and perceptual-interference effects

Mulligan

Peterson

2008

Memory & Cognition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In this regard, the memorial benefit of effort after meaning does appear to be similar to the generation effect, which is a robust finding and has engendered a sizable literature, in which there is a memorial advantage for information that is actively generated rather than passively heard, seen, or read (e.g., Jacoby, 1978;Slamecka & Graf, 1978; for recent reviews, see Bertsch, Pesta, Wiscott, & McDaniel, 2007;Mulligan & Lozito, 2004). On a general level, due to the active or synthetic nature of comprehension, effort after meaning appears to be an active process.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

The effects of "effort after meaning" on recall: Differences in within- and between-subjects designs

Zaromb

Roediger

2009

Memory & Cognition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What is the relationship between comprehension and memory? Ebbinghaus (1885Ebbinghaus ( /1964 began the scientific study of memory by attempting to avoid this question. By studying memory for three-letter trigrams under controlled experimental conditions, he assumed that he would not have to be concerned about the variability in how subjects understood or related to the stimuli. Nonetheless, Ebbinghaus noted that the lists of syllables he memorized exhibit very important and almost incomprehensible variations as to the ease or difficulty with which they are learned. It even appears from this point of view as if the differences between sense and nonsense material were not nearly as great as one would be inclined a priori to imagine. (p. 23) Others who followed in Ebbinghaus's footsteps measured differences in the meaningfulness of nonsense syllables (e.g., Archer, 1960;Glaze, 1928;Hull, 1933) in order to afford researchers better experimental control over these presumed variations in learning (see also Jenkins, 1985). Even the plainest materials seem to require an effort to find meaningfulness in order to comprehend and remember them (e.g., Prytulak, 1971).In contrast to Ebbinghaus's (1885/1964) approach, Bartlett (1932) presumed a direct relationship between processes involved in comprehension and acts of remembering. Specifically, Bartlett proposed that individuals engaged in a process of "effort after meaning," of which he wrote, it is fitting to speak of every human cognitive reaction-perceiving, imaging, remembering, thinking, and reasoning-as an effort after meaning. Certain of the tendencies which the subject brings with him into the situation with which he is called upon to deal are utilized so as to make his reaction the "easiest," or the least disagreeable, or the quickest and least obstructed that is at the time possible. When we try to discover how this is done we find that always it is by an effort to connect what is given with something else. (p. 44) In experiencing the world, humans presumably bring their past knowledge to bear on understanding current happenings. When it comes to remembering past occurrences, Bartlett argued that people attempt to make their recollections conform to cultural expectations, prior background knowledge, or the current context.To directly examine effort after meaning as it relates to memory, Auble and Franks (1978) developed an ingenious experimental paradigm in which subjects heard and later attempted to recall ambiguous sentences, such as "The clothes were ruined because the sign vanished," that were presented with or without disambiguating cues (i.e., wet paint). Where cues were provided, their conditions of presentation varied. In a control condition, the cue was meaningfully embedded within the sentence (i.e., "The clothes were ruined because the wet paint sign vanished"). In other conditions, the sentence preceded the cue. In four experiments, we examined free recall of ambiguous sentences with or without corresponding cues to facilitate comprehension, using A...

show abstract

The generation effect: A meta-analytic review

Cited by 268 publications

References 103 publications

Investigating the encoding—retrieval match in recognition memory: Effects of experimental design, specificity, and retention interval

Investigating the encoding—retrieval match in recognition memory: Effects of experimental design, specificity, and retention interval

Assessing a retrieval account of the generation and perceptual-interference effects

The effects of "effort after meaning" on recall: Differences in within- and between-subjects designs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About