Exact and conceptual repetition dissociate conceptual memory tests: problems for transfer appropriate processing theory

Abstract

Three experiments examined whether a conceptual implicit memory test (specifically, category instance generation) would exhibit repetition effects similar to those found in free recall. The transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations among memory tests led us to predict that the tests would show parallel effects; this prediction was based upon the theory's assumption that conceptual tests will behave similarly as a function of various independent variables. In Experiment 1, conceptual repetition (i.e., following a target word [e.g., puzzles] with an associate [e.g., jigsaw]) did not enhance priming on the instance generation test relative to the condition of simply presenting the target word once, although this manipulation did affect free recall. In Experiment 2, conceptual repetition was achieved by following a picture with its corresponding word (or vice versa). In this case, there was an effect of conceptual repetition on free recall but no reliable effect on category instance generation or category cued recall. In addition, we obtained a picture superiority effect in free recall but not in category instance generation. In the third experiment, when the same study sequence was used as in Experiment 1, but with instructions that encouraged relational processing, priming on the category instance generation task was enhanced by conceptual repetition. Results demonstrate that conceptual memory tests can be dissociated and present problems for Roediger's (1990) transfer appropriate processing account of dissociations between explicit and implicit tests.