Abstract
If participants study a list of items and, at test, receive a random selection of the studied items as retrieval cues, then such cuing often impairs recall of the remaining items. This effect, referred to as part-list cuing impairment, is a well-established finding in memory research that, over the years, has been attributed to quite different cognitive mechanisms. Here, we provide a review of more recent developments in research on part-list cuing. These developments (i) suggest a new view on part-list cuing impairment and a critical role of encoding for the effect, (ii) identify conditions in which part-list cuing impairment can turn into part-list cuing facilitation, and (iii) relate research on part-list cuing to a phenomenon from social memory, known as collaborative inhibition. The recent developments also include a new multi-mechanisms account, which attributes the effects of cuing to the interplay between detrimental mechanisms—like blocking, inhibition, or strategy disruption—and beneficial mechanisms—like context reactivation. The account provides a useful theoretical framework to describe both older and newer findings. It may guide future work on part-list cuing and may also motivate new research on collaborative inhibition.
Highlights
Recall from episodic memory can benefit greatly from the presence of adequate retrieval cues
If participants study a list of unrelated items and, at test, receive a random selection of the studied items as retrieval cues, the beneficial effect of cuing often reverses into a detrimental effect (Slamecka, 1968; Roediger, 1973; see Figure 1)
Beneficial effects of PLC arose on the second test of a repeated-testing task only, when part-list cues were provided on the first recall test but were removed on the second test. These results suggest a role of context reactivation for PLC with high associative encoding, with this type of encoding, beneficial effects on recall may be masked by strategy disruption processes as long as the part-list cues are present
Summary
Recall from episodic memory can benefit greatly from the presence of adequate retrieval cues. Encoding influenced the results in both studies: Whereas, with repeated testing, PLC impairment disappeared after the removal of the cues with high associative encoding, it persisted with low associative encoding (see Figures 2A,B; but see Muntean and Kimball, 2012); when item-specific probes were provided at test, PLC impairment was present with low associative encoding, but it was absent with high associative encoding These findings fit with the two-factor account and the view that inhibition primarily operates with low associative encoding and strategy disruption primarily operates with high associative encoding. Beneficial effects of PLC arose on the second test of a repeated-testing task only, when part-list cues were provided on the first recall test but were removed on the second test These results suggest a role of context reactivation for PLC with high associative encoding, with this type of encoding, beneficial effects on recall may be masked by strategy disruption processes as long as the part-list cues are present (see below)
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