Strategy use and its evolvement in word list learning: a replication study

Spontaneous strategy employment is important for memory performance, but systematic research on strategy use and within-task evolvement is limited. This online study aimed to replicate three main findings by Waris and colleagues in Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2021): in word-list learning, spontaneous strategy use (1) predicts better task performance, (2) stabilizes along the task, and (3) increases during the first two task blocks. We administered a shortened version of their original real-word list-learning task to 209 neurotypical adults. Their first finding was partly replicated: manipulation strategies (grouping, visualization, association, narrative, other strategy) but not maintenance strategies (rehearsal/repetition, selective focus) were associated with superior word recall. The second finding on the decrease in strategy changers over task blocks was replicated. The third finding turned out to be misguided: neither our nor the original study showed task-initial increase in strategy use in the real-word learning condition. Our results confirm the important role of spontaneous strategies in understanding memory performance and the existence of task-initial dynamics in strategy employment. They support the general conclusions by Waris and colleagues: task demands can trigger strategy use even in a familiar task like learning a list of common words, and evolution of strategy use during a memory task reflects cognitive skill learning.