Dissociative effects of orthographic distinctiveness in pure and mixed lists: an item-order account

• Published in: Memory & cognition Vol. 39; no. 7; pp. 1162 - 1173
• Main Authors: McDaniel, Mark A., Cahill, Michael, Bugg, Julie M., Meadow, Nathaniel G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.10.2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive Psychology; Design of experiments; Experiments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Learning. Memory; Memory; Memory - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Psychological Tests; Psychological Theory; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Recall; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Retention (Psychology) - physiology; Studies; Young Adult; Mixed vs. pure lists; Orthographic distinctiveness; Item-order account; Memory; Human; Singularity; Mixed vs; Cognition; Experimental study; Orthography; pure lists; Verbal memory; Language; Stimulus order
• ISSN: 0090-502X; 1532-5946
• DOI: 10.3758/s13421-011-0097-9

We apply the item-order theory of list composition effects in free recall to the orthographic distinctiveness effect. The item-order account assumes that orthographically distinct items advantage item-specific encoding in both mixed and pure lists, but at the expense of exploiting relational information present in the list. Experiment 1 replicated the typical free recall advantage of orthographically distinct items in mixed lists and the elimination of that advantage in pure lists. Supporting the item-order account, recognition performances indicated that orthographically distinct items received greater item-specific encoding than did orthographically common items in mixed and pure lists (Experiments 1 and 2 ). Furthermore, order memory (input–output correspondence and sequential contiguity effects) was evident in recall of pure unstructured common lists, but not in recall of unstructured distinct lists (Experiment 1 ). These combined patterns, although not anticipated by prevailing views, are consistent with an item-order account.