Reducing retrieval time modulates the production effect: Empirical evidence and computational accounts

Abstract

Memory is reliably better for information read aloud relative to information read silently—the production effect. Three preregistered experiments examined whether the production effect arises from a more time-consuming retrieval process operating at test that benefits items that were produced at study. Participants studied items either aloud or silently and then completed a recognition test which required responding within a short deadline, under the assumption that a time-consuming retrieval process would be less able to operate when less time was available. Results generally supported this prediction. Even under speeded responding instructions, however, there was a robust production effect, suggesting that other, more rapid, processes also contribute to the production effect. Based on two extant verbal accounts, a computational model of the production effect using REM is introduced.