Effects of encoding style, expectation of retrieval mode, and retrieval style on memory for action phrases

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of encoding style, expectation of retrieval mode, and retrieval style on memory for action phrases using the recall test and the source-monitoring test. In Exp. 1, the subjects were asked to memorize action phrases with a variety of encoding styles (verbal, performance, imaging), expectation of retrieval mode (to-be-remembered, to-be-performed, to-be-forgotten), and retrieval style (verbal, enacted). Analysis showed that memory for action phrases was affected by processes of encoding, i.e., type of encoding and expectation of retrieval at encoding, rather than retrieval. Also, action phrases, which were either acted out, or in which performance was imaged, or where enacting was expected later at the encoding phase, were recalled better. These results were replicated in Exp. 2, in which subjects were asked to identify the source of memories at the time of the recall test. However, results of the source-monitoring test in Exp. 1 which required, following the recall test, that participants recall as many of the test-expectation condition of action phrases as possible, showed that source memory for phrases enacted at encoding was weaker than for those in which performance was imaged or expected later but not enacted at encoding. Since, in Exp. 2, source memory for enacted items at encoding was maintained at a relatively high level, it is suggested that source memory for enacted action phrases at encoding might decay rapidly. In addition, a robust directed forgetting effect was observed in verbal and imaging encoding but not in performance encoding.