The production effect and the generation effect improve memory in picture naming

Abstract

The production effect (better memory for words read aloud than words read silently) and the picture superiority effect (better memory for pictures than words) both improve item memory in a picture naming task (Fawcett, J. M., Quinlan, C. K., & Taylor, T. L. (2012). Interplay of the production and picture superiority effects: A signal detection analysis. Memory (Hove, England), 20(7), 655-666. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2012.693510 ). Because picture naming requires coming up with an appropriate label, the generation effect (better memory for generated than read words) may contribute to the latter effect. In two forced-choice memory experiments, we tested the role of generation in a picture naming task on later recognition memory. In Experiment 1, participants named pictures silently or aloud with the correct name or an unreadable label superimposed. We observed a generation effect, a production effect, and an interaction between the two. In Experiment 2, unreliable labels were included to ensure full picture processing in all conditions. In this experiment, we observed a production and a generation effect but no interaction, implying the effects are dissociable. This research demonstrates the separable roles of generation and production in picture naming and their impact on memory. As such, it informs the link between memory and language production and has implications for memory asymmetries between language production and comprehension.

#foodie: Implications of interacting with social media for memory

“…This project was inspired by previously observed benefits of generating picture descriptions for subsequent recognition memory (McKinley et al, 2017;Yoon et al, 2016;Zormpa et al, 2019). Here we show that this result extends to the socially relevant domain of social media images.…”

“…The aims of Experiment 1 were twofold. First, we tested whether previously observed benefits of generating picture descriptions (McKinley et al, 2017;Yoon et al, 2016;Zormpa et al, 2019) would generalize to the ubiquitous practice of commenting on social media images. Second, we evaluated whether there were stable individual differences in memory for these images, particularly those related to food.…”

“…This observed memory benefit for describing images likely owes to the fact that the labels were generated and produced by the speakers, both of which benefit memory (i.e., the "generation effect" and "production effect"; Fawcett, Quinlan, & Taylor, 2012;Macleod, Gopie, Hourihan, Neary, & Ozubko, 2010;Slamecka & Graf, 1978;Zormpa, Brehm, Hoedemaker, & Meyer, 2019; also see Knutsen & Le Bigot, 2014). Action memory is similarly better for self-performed actions than for observed actions (Koriat, Ben-Zur, & Druch, 1991).…”

Effect of word retrieval therapy on a patient with expressive aphasia: a case report

“…Thus, the therapy using pictures representing nouns and verbs was able to increase the patient's vocabulary, which improved oral communication by making it more intelligible. These same benefits were found in a study 26 that investigated the effect of word retrieval therapy (verbs) through various levels of language production, using semantic characteristics and clues. The results showed significant gains in the naming of treated verbs and a lesser effect on untreated verbs, as well as favorable changes in verbs at sentence-level.…”

A tool for efficient and accurate segmentation of speech data: announcing POnSS

“…We designed a baseline task that is typical for the type of segmentation projects that are conducted for production data in psycholinguistics (for instance, Zormpa et al 2019;Sjerps et al 2019), combining forced-alignment and Praat TextGrid annotation.…”