Shattered illusions: The effect of explicit memory mediation on an indirect memory test

Four experiments were conducted to explore the possible involvement of expl icit memory in an indirect memory test in which white noise accompanying ol d sentences was judged to be quieter than white noise accompanying new sent ences (Tacoby, Allan, Collins, & Larwill, 1988). Experiment 1 established t hat this effect lasted up to 1 week. Experiment 2 found that a group of amn esic patients showed a noise effect that was marginally above chance and no t significantly less than that of their matched controls after a delay of o ne day. Effects of time pressure at test (Experiment 3) and divided attenti on at study (Experiment 4) suggested that the memory processes mediating th e noise effect were not automatic, although the possibility that the proces ses involve enhanced fluency is also discussed.