Two contributions of distinctive processing to accurate memory

Abstract

Accurate memory requires both acceptance of correct items and rejection of incorrect items. The concept of distinctive processing has been used to explain both of these contributions to accurate memory, but in previous research the definitions of distinctive processing that services correct acceptance and correct rejection have been quite different. In this paper distinctive processing is defined as the processing of difference within the context of similarity, but a distinction is drawn between item-based distinctive processing and event-based distinctive processing. Two experiments are presented that require participants to perform orienting tasks on a preliminary list of words followed by a list targeted for memory. Either the same or different tasks are performed on the two lists. Furthermore, the tasks are selected such that they either draw attention to similarities or to differences within the lists. The results show that performing different tasks on the two lists facilitates rejection of distracters from the preliminary list in both recognition and recall. Correct recognition and recall of target items was unaffected by the task on the preliminary list but was facilitated by the task that draws attention to differences among items within the target lists. The outcome indicates different effects of item-based and event-based distinctive processing on memory accuracy.