Survival processing eliminates collaborative inhibition

The present experiments examined the effect of processing words for their survival value, relevance to moving and pleasantness on participants' free recall scores in both nominal groups (non-redundant pooled individual scores) and collaborative dyads. Overall, participants recalled more words in the survival processing conditions than in the moving and pleasantness processing conditions. Furthermore, nominal groups in both the pleasantness condition (Experiment 1) and the moving and pleasantness conditions (Experiment 2) recalled more words than collaborative groups, thereby replicating the oft-observed effect of collaborative inhibition. However, processing words for their survival value appeared to eliminate the deleterious effects of collaborative remembering in both Experiments 1 and 2. These results are discussed in the context of the retrieval strategy disruption hypothesis and the effects of both expertise and collaborative skill on group remembering.