Action Memory and Encoding Time: Evidence for a Strategic View of Action Memory Processing

The enactment effect is the phenomenon whereby carrying out a simple action phrase results in superior memory compared with listening to the phrase or observing someone else carry out the action. Several early studies suggested that action memory processing is less effortful and strategic compared w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American journal of psychology Vol. 128; no. 4; p. 419
Main Authors Peterson, Daniel J, Mulligan, Neil W
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 22.12.2015
Subjects
Female
Humans
Male
Memory - physiology
Mental Recall - physiology
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Summary:The enactment effect is the phenomenon whereby carrying out a simple action phrase results in superior memory compared with listening to the phrase or observing someone else carry out the action. Several early studies suggested that action memory processing is less effortful and strategic compared with traditional verbal processing, a perspective that is still argued today. In the current study, we reexamine a particularly compelling finding in support of this view (Cohen, 1985). Contrary to Cohen's original findings, we demonstrate that additional time to encode an action phrase leads to comparable gains in recall as seen with controls. These data fit well with a different perspective of action memory, namely that the processing of actions is guided by the same strategic, effortful processing as verbal memory.
ISSN:0002-9556
DOI:10.5406/amerjpsyc.128.4.0419