THE BIZARRENESS EFFECT - ITS NOT SURPRISING, ITS COMPLEX

Higher recall of bizarre images relative to common images (the bizarre ness effect) is consistently found when bizarreness is varied as a wit hin-subject (mixed-list) variable. In Experiment 1, mixed lists, rathe r than the smaller number of bizarre sentences typically used in such lists, determined the occurrence of the bizarreness effect. Contrary t o predictions from expectation-violation theory, Experiments 2 and 3 s howed that manipulations designed to augment or attenuate surprise rea ctions to bizarre sentences had little impact on the bizarreness effec t. Experiments 4 and 5 indicated that mixing affected the degree to wh ich participants differentially encoded order information for bizarre and common items. A new account of the bizarreness effect is presented that combines considerations of distinctiveness with the differential use of order information across bizarre and common items.