INCIDENTAL RETRIEVAL-PROCESSES INFLUENCE EXPLICIT TEST-PERFORMANCE WITH DATA-LIMITED CUES

In two experiments, the influence of incidental retrieval processes on explicit test performance was tested. In Experiment 1, subjects studi ed words under four conditions (auditory-shallow, auditory-deep, visua l-shallow, and visual-deep). One group of subjects received auditory a nd visual word-fragment completion; another group received auditory an d visual word-fragment cued recall. Results indicated that changes in sensory modality between study and test reduced both recall and primin g performances; levels of processing significantly affected only the c ued recall test. These results indicated that incidental retrieval pro cesses might affect explicit test performance when retrieval cues are data limited. Experiment 2 supported this conclusion by showing an eff ect of matching study and test modalities on explicit test performance with fragment but not with copy cues. Taken together, these results s upport Roediger and McDermott's (1993) suggestion that explicit test p erformance is influenced by incidental retrieval processes when data-l imited retrieval cues are used.