Multiple producible cues do not aid face-name memory: A reverse production effect

Are there effective mechanisms that can be used to remember someone's name? The production effect is a phenomenon that exemplifies memory's robust benefit for studied words or phrases that have been spoken out loud, as opposed to only hearing or seeing them. However, this robust effect has not yet been identified for face-name pairings. The present study seeks to examine the boundary conditions of the production effect in face-name pairings by incorporating the additional cue of valenced adjectives. Participants were presented with facial images and a sentence stating the name and a description of the individual. Sentences were learned in one of four ways: saying the sentence out loud, reading it silently, reading it while hearing it, or only listening to the sentence presented while viewing the face. Memory for the face, name, and adjective combinations were tested using various types of cues: face only (Experiment 1a), or face and name or adjective (Experiment 1b & Experiment 2). Results replicate the lack of a production effect for face-name memory, and instead support a reverse effect for such stimuli. These findings indicate the unique processing of faces and highlight boundary conditions of the production effect.