Effect of collaborative strategies on retrieval: the evidence from different task materials

Collaborative memory refers to a process where two or more members encode information individually but collaborate during retrieval. While the collaborative process itself is widely studied in retrieval research, communication strategies - specifically, how collaboration is strategically conducted - have received little attention. Through three experiments, this study investigates the influence of the "free collaboration", "supporting others" and "focusing on differences" collaborative retrieval strategies and "nominal group" in four groups on collaborative memory and the collaborative retrieval effect across three types of memory materials: words, picture - names, and stories. Based on the results, the following conclusions can be drawn:(1) The influence of collaborative strategies on collaborative extraction exhibits a certain degree of task specificity. The difference-focused strategy demonstrated superior efficacy with verbal materials, whereas the partner-support strategy enhanced retrieval performance for narrative materials. (2) The influence of collaborative strategies on the collaborative memory effect also varies depending on the material. Distinct patterns of collaborative inhibition and error pruning emerged for verbal versus narrative materials in the two strategy groups. (3) For picture-name pairs - owing to their dual-coding characteristics - no performance differences emerged between strategy groups during collaborative retrieval, with both exhibiting collaborative advantages. In summary, the optimal collaboration approach varies according to material type, while collaboration strategies guide distinct interaction patterns. The differential alignment between these two dimensions - material-optimized approaches versus strategy-guided approaches - ultimately determines how collaboration strategies influence retrieval performance across materials.