Shattered illusions: the effect of explicit memory mediation on an indirect memory test

Four experiments were conducted to explore the possible involvement of explicit memory in an indirect memory test in which white noise accompanying old sentences was judged to be quieter than white noise accompanying new sentences (Jacoby, Allan, Collins & Larwill, 1988). Experiment 1 established that this effect lasted up to 1 week. Experiment 2 found that a group of amnesic patients showed a noise effect that was marginally above chance and not significantly less that that of their matched controls after a delay of one day. Effect of time pressure at test (Experiment 3) and divided attention at study (Experiment 4) suggested that the memory processes mediating the noise effect were not automatic, although the possibility that the processes involve enhanced fluency is also discussed.