Action Memory and Metamemory

Actions can enhance memory, exemplified by the enactment effect. In a typical experiment, participants hear a series of simple action phrases (e.g., bounce the ball), which they either carry out (subject-performed tasks, or SPTs), watch the experimenter carry out (experimenter-performed tasks, EPTs), or simply listen to (verbal tasks, VTs). Later memory is usually better for SPTs than for either EPTs or VTs. Although research on action memory is extensive, research on action and metamemory is sparse and produces contradictory results. Furthermore, the metamemory literature has largely ignored the effects of action. Some theoretical perspectives argue that actions produce a particularly effective and automatic form of encoding, and that such nonstrategic encoding should produce inaccurate memory predictions. Other theories argue that action memory relies on executive control processes, suggesting that memory predictions for actions should be just as good (or better) than for control conditions. In Experiments 1a and 1b, participants predicted (with judgements-of-learning, JOLs) whether they would later remember SPTs and EPTs. Resolution (the correlation between JOLs and later recall) was greater for EPTs than SPTs, and not significantly different than zero in the latter case. Experiment 3 produced the same results with SPTs and VTs: resolution was greater for VTs and not significant for SPTs. The results are consistent with nonstrategic accounts of the enactment effect, and also highlight the importance of examining metamemory for actions given that actions can alter metamemory relative to verbal (VT) and other nonaction (EPT) conditions. In addition, the presence of JOLs attenuates the enactment effect, a reactive effect of JOLs similar to that found with other encoding effects.