SPACING EFFECTS ON CUED-MEMORY TESTS DEPEND ON LEVEL OF PROCESSING

In the reported experiments, the spacing of repetitions improved performance on cued-memory tests (a frequency judgment test and graphemic cued-recall test) when items were studied in an intentional or an incidental-semantic condition but not in an incidental-graphemic study condition. The results imply that spacing effects on cued tests depend on level of processing carried out on the stimuli rather than on intentionality of learning per se, as suggested by R. L. Greene (1989, 1990). The findings undermine a voluntary rehearsal account of spacing effects in cued tests. Alternative accounts are discussed, including the view that involuntary processes akin to semantic (or lexical) priming play a critical role in spacing effects on cued-memory tests.