The influences of emotion on covert and overt retrieval practice effects

Overt and covert retrieval represent two distinct response formats in retrieval practice. While prior research has demonstrated that negative emotion influences individuals' retrieval processing, it remains unclear how emotional valence affects covert and overt retrieval practice. Therefore, we manipulated two within-subjects factors (emotion and learning condition) in Experiments 1 and 2. In both experiments, we used a modified paradigm of retrieval practice. The paradigm included three phases: (a) an initial study phase, (b) a second phase with restudy, overt retrieval practice, or covert retrieval practice, and (c) a final recall test. The final recall test was administered within a short retention interval (5 min) in Experiment 1 and a long retention interval (2 days) in Experiment 2. We observed that overt retrieval led to a better final recall test performance than restudy under positive emotion in both experiments, suggesting the production effect of overt retrieval. Furthermore, these two experiments consistently showed absence of overt and covert retrieval practice effects under negative emotion, indicating the disruptive effects of negative emotion on both overt and covert retrieval practice. Our study contributes to the growing body of literature exploring the potential influencing factors for overt and covert retrieval practice effects.