The production effect is consistent over material variations: support for the distinctiveness account

The production effect is the superior memory for items read aloud as opposed to silently at the time of study. The distinctiveness account holds that produced items benefit from the encoding of additional elements associated with the act of production. If so, then that benefit should be consistent regardless of item type. Three experiments, using three different sets of materials and three different methods, tested this hypothesis. Experiment 1, using recognition testing, showed consistent production benefits for high and low frequency words. Experiment 2, using free recall, showed consistent production increments for pictures and words. Experiment 3, using incidental learning, showed consistent production benefits for recognition of nonwords and words. Taken together, these results fit with the distinctiveness account: Production at encoding dependably adds information to the memory record, regardless of item type or method of testing, producing a consistently reliable memory benefit.