Tests of a cognitive-resource-allocation account of the bizarreness effect

The authors examined the role of cognitive-resource allocation in obtaining the often reported memory advantage for bizarre relative to common informa tion by using the secondary-task method in 4 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, they investigated the relationship between differences in cognitive resource allocation during comprehension and in recall for common and bizar re information. In Experiments 3 and 4, they investigated the same relation ship but measured cognitive-resource allocation during imaging rather than during comprehension. Although bizarre items required more time to comprehe nd and to image than did common items, the differences were not reliable pr edictors of the recall differences between item types. Furthermore, analyse s of response latencies to a secondary task provided no compelling evidence in support of a cognitive-resource-allocation explanation of bizarreness e ffects. Implications for the development of a comprehensive model of the in fluence of bizarreness on memory are discussed.