The generation effect and source memory [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Sandra Daniela Mattern

UNIVERSITÄT MANNHEIMThe Generation EffectandSource MemoryInauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Gradeseiner Doktorin der Sozialwissenschaftender Universität Mannheimvorgelegt vonDipl.-Psych. Sandra Daniela MatternDekan der Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften:Prof. Dr. Berthold RittbergerGutachter: Prof. Dr. Edgar ErdfelderProf. Dr. Rüdiger PohlTag der Disputation: 20. Dezember 2010“A curious peculiarity of our memory is that things are impressed betterby active than by passive repetition.”(James, 1890, p. 646, italics added)“Most of us have probably encountered the informally expressed sentimentthat there is an especial advantage to learning by doing,or that some kind of active or effortful involvement of the person in the learning processis more beneficial than merely passive reception of the same information.To what extent does this general notion have solid empirical support,as opposed to a casual or anecdotal base, [...]?”(Slamecka & Graf, 1978, p. 592)SummarySuperior memory performance for self-generated (i.e., incomplete) items compared to read(i.e., complete) items is called the positive generation effect, whereas the reverse pattern iscalled the negative generation effect. For item memory tasks, a positive generation effecttypically occurs (cf., Slamecka & Graf, 1978).