Cognitive interdependence and convergent expectations in transactive memory

A laboratory experiment investigated the processes that underlie the development of transactive memory structures--the organizing schemes that connect knowledge held by individuals to knowledge held by others (D. M. Wegner, T. Guiliano, & P. T. Hertel, 1985). The design was a 2 x 4 factorial that controlled expectations about the partner's knowledge (similar or different from the participant's) and cognitive interdependence, the degree to which participants' outcomes depended on whether they recalled the same or different information as their partner (defined by 4 incentives). Transactive memory was most differentiated when individuals had different expertise and incentives to remember different information and most integrated when individuals had similar expertise and incentives to remember the same information. These findings may help to explain the impact of previous experience and relationships on the development of transactive memory.