Primary versus secondary rehearsal in an imagined voice: Differential effects on recognition memory and perceptual identification

Abstract

On each of a series of trials, subjects listened to four words presented by a female speaker and then imagined her rehearsing those words aloud for either 5 or 15 sec. Rehearsal was either primary (imagining the speaker repeat the words) or secondary (imagining the speaker associate the words). On a later test of auditory recognition memory, secondary-rehearsal items were recognized better than were primary-rehearsal items, and performance improved with rehearsal duration for both primary- and secondary-rehearsal items. By contrast, the positive effects of prior study for a later test of auditory perceptual identification did not depend on type or duration of rehearsal. These results are inconsistent with current two-process theories of recognition memory, but seem consistent with the distinction between data-driven and conceptually driven memory tests. © 1988, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.