What is the role of affect in the spacing effect?

Abstract

In Experiments 1 and 2, after studying a list containing connotatively neutral words that were presented once or were presented at various spacing intervals, subjects either attempted free recall or made affective judgments of the study-list targets along a pleasant/unpleasant dimension. Spacing effects occurred in recall, and massed items were judged to be more unpleasant than once-presented and spaced words. In the third experiment, subjects studied homogeneous lists composed of either connotatively good words or connotatively bad ones. Spacing effects were absent in the recall of both types of words because massed-practice words were recalled at a high level, one that was about the same as that for spaced-practice words. Affective judgments were unrelated to presentation condition, and both good and bad massed words were judged to be positive in affect. Although the data suggest that different study conditions can lead to different affective reactions, the results are moot with regard to the relationship between affect and the magnitude of spacing effects.Long-term recall of repeated verbal items increases as the temporal spacing between presentations increases. Theoretical accounts of this pervasive spacing effect (for reviews, see Glenberg, 1979;Hintzman, 1974;Melton, 1970) have focused on various cognitive activities such as encoding, storage, and retrieval. According to these theoretical efforts, processes underlying the spacing effect result from what social psychologists (e.g., Zajonc, 1980) call "cold cognitions." Cold cognitions represent analytic activities and their outcomes, such as feature analysis, rehearsal, and other typical mnemonic activities and internal representations. The general picture derived from research on the spacing effect seems to be that some sort of trace elaboration process and inattention to the second presentation of a massed item are among the most important factors leading to spacing effects (Crowder, 1976;Hintzman, 1976). Exactly why cold cognitions lead to trace multiplexing and failures to attend to massed repetitions has not been well specified. One reason for the failure to determine the causes of the spacing effect may be due to the fact that theories and research have tended to ignore "hot cognitions," which in contrast to cold cognitions include those associated with the affective domain of experience. Boredom, preference, positive arousal, and other affective states and processes have not received much emphasis as factors determining the spacing effect. The present paper reports several experiments designed to test the idea that affective processes play an important role in the spacing effect.

The spacing effect in the free recall of homogeneous lists: Present and accounted for

“…Kahana and Greene (1993) replicated the findings of Elmes et al (1983), but demonstrated that the spacing effect in free recall also was eliminated with homogeneous lists that were affectively neutral. Thus, the spacing effect in free recall was eliminated when list words consisted entirely of four-footed animals or entirely of occupations.…”

“…Although other aspects of the findings reported by Elmes et al (1983), in conjunction with subsequent work (Elmes, Chapman, & Selig, 1984), suggested a complex relationship between affect and the spacing of repetitions, the elimination of the spacing effect with affectively homogeneous lists may have had more to do with the lists being homogeneous than with their affective characteristics. Kahana and Greene (1993) replicated the findings of Elmes et al (1983), but demonstrated that the spacing effect in free recall also was eliminated with homogeneous lists that were affectively neutral.…”

“…Given the relative ubiquity of the phenomenon, any set of conditions in which the spacing effect is reliably attenuated may offer an opportunity to gain fresh theoretical insights. In the present experiments, we examined a failure to obtain a spacing effect in free recall that originally was reported by Elmes, Dye, and Herdelin (1983) and that subsequently was replicated and extended by Kahana and Greene (1993). Elmes et al (1983) were interested in the influence of affect on the spacing effect.…”

“…In the present experiments, we examined a failure to obtain a spacing effect in free recall that originally was reported by Elmes, Dye, and Herdelin (1983) and that subsequently was replicated and extended by Kahana and Greene (1993). Elmes et al (1983) were interested in the influence of affect on the spacing effect. The important element of their findings for our purposes was that, when lists contained unrelated, affectively neutral words, Elmes et al (1983) found that free recall was better for spaced repetitions than for massed repetitions, whereas when lists were affectively homogeneous (i.e., composed of all "good" words or all "bad" words), the spacing effect was eliminated.…”

“…Elmes et al (1983) were interested in the influence of affect on the spacing effect. The important element of their findings for our purposes was that, when lists contained unrelated, affectively neutral words, Elmes et al (1983) found that free recall was better for spaced repetitions than for massed repetitions, whereas when lists were affectively homogeneous (i.e., composed of all "good" words or all "bad" words), the spacing effect was eliminated.…”