Item and order information in subject-performed tasks and experimenter-performed tasks

This study investigated the enactment effect from the perspective of the it em-order hypothesis (e.g., M. Serra gr J. S. Nairne, 1993). The authors ass umed that in subject-performed tasks (SPTs), item encoding is improved but order encoding is disrupted compared with experimenter-performed tasks (EPT s), that order encoding of EPTs is only better in pure lists, and that the item-order hypothesis is confined to short lists. Item information was test ed in recognition memory tests, order information in order reconstruction t asks, and both item and order information in free-recall tests. The results of 5 experiments using short (8 items) and long lists (24 items) in a desi gn with list type (pure, mixed) and encoding condition (EPT, SPT) as factor s supported the hypotheses.