Adaptive memory: Mechanisms of the animacy effect II

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Among of the most fascinating effects in recent memory research is the observation that animate words are better remembered than inanimate words. The memory advantage of animates over inanimates has become known as the animacy effect in the memory literature. Theoretical accounts such as the richness-of-encoding account and the attentional account that attribute the animacy effect to a single underlying process have not yet received convincing empirical evidence. The account of complementary encoding processes may provide an attractive explanation of the animacy effect. According to this account, animacy promotes a combination of relational and item-specific processing at encoding. This combination improves free recall because it supports both the organization of retrieval and the discrimination between possible retrieval candidates. Since the account of complementary encoding processes has a long research history, it is ideally suited for developing hypotheses that can guide empirical research and provide new insights into the cognitive processes underlying the animacy effect. The overarching goal of the research project is to systematically test whether the account of complementary encoding processes can explain the animacy effect. To this end, we will test well-specified hypotheses on how the animacy effects on free recall and recognition are affected by combinations of list composition and task instructions. Furthermore, we will test hypotheses that imply stronger animacy effects in delayed in comparison to immediate recall. By using different tasks and memory measures, the research program will also provide a critical test of the robustness and generalizability of the animacy effect on memory.