Recollection-based retrieval is influenced by contextual variation at encoding but not at retrieval

In this article, we investigated the effects of variations at encoding and retrieval on recollection. We argue that recollection is more likely to be affected by the processing that information undergoes at encoding than at retrieval. To date, manipulations shown to affect recollection were typically carried out at encoding. Therefore, an open question is whether these same manipulations would also affect recollection when carried out at retrieval, or whether there is an inherent connection between their effects on recollection and the encoding stage. We therefore manipulated, at either encoding or retrieval, fluency of processing (Experiment 1)—typically found not to affect recollection—and the amount of attentional resources available for processing (Experiments 2 and 3)—typically reported to affect recollection. We found that regardless of the type of manipulation, recollection was affected more by manipulations carried out at encoding and was essentially unaffected when these manipulations were carried out at retrieval. These findings suggest an inherent dependency between recollection-based retrieval and the encoding stage. It seems that because recollection is a contextual-based retrieval process, it is determined by the processing information undergoes at encoding—at the time when context is bound with the items—but not at retrieval—when context is only recovered.

本文探讨了编码（encoding）与提取（retrieval）阶段的操作变化对情景回想（recollection）的影响。我们提出，相较于提取阶段，信息在编码阶段所经历的加工过程更易对情景回想产生影响。截至目前，已被证实可影响情景回想的实验操控通常均实施于编码阶段。因此，尚存一个开放性问题：若将这些操控施加于提取阶段，是否同样会对情景回想产生影响？抑或是这些操控对情景回想的效应与编码阶段存在固有关联？为此，我们分别在编码或提取阶段操控了加工流畅性（实验1）——以往研究通常发现其不会影响情景回想——以及可供加工使用的注意资源总量（实验2与3）——以往研究通常报道该因素会影响情景回想。结果发现，无论操控类型为何，编码阶段实施的操控对情景回想的影响程度均更强，而当操控实施于提取阶段时，情景回想基本不受影响。上述结果表明，基于情景回想的提取过程与编码阶段存在固有依赖关系。由于情景回想是一种基于语境的提取过程，其由信息在编码阶段的加工过程所决定——此时语境正与记忆项目进行绑定——而非在提取阶段，此时仅能对语境进行恢复。