When every word was judged, words circled as to-be-remembered were recalled better and words underlined as to-be-forgotten worse than a no-instruction control group's recall¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr2·q3·i3large
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q3 i3 In Experiment 6, recall for to-be-remembered words was enhanced relative to control (d = 0.86) whereas recall for to-be-forgotten words was impaired (d = -1.57). → Dillon H. Murphy 2023
Evidence¶
Dillon H. Murphy 2023¶
Dillon H. Murphy, Vered Halamish, Matthew G. Rhodes, & Alan D. Castel. (2023). How evaluating memorability can lead to Unintended Consequences. Metacognition and Learning (2023) 18:375–403. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-023-09332-3
q3 · i3 · causal · r2
Experiment 6: 64 undergraduates circled 10 of 20 words to be tested on and underlined 10 not to be tested on; a control group (n = 66) circled and underlined randomly. Against control recall (M = 0.49), "recall for to-be-remembered words was enhanced" and to-be-forgotten recall impaired.
"one-sample t-tests revealed that recall for to-be-remembered words was enhanced [ t(63) = 6.90, p < .001, d = 0.86] whereas recall for to-be-forgotten words was impaired [ t(63) = -12.56, p < .001, d = -1.57]"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Judging words as likely to be forgotten enhanced their recall relative to unselected words under simultaneous presentation with fixed or self-paced study time — related
- In self-cued directed forgetting, selected words were better recalled than unselected words regardless of whether they were designated to-be-remembered or to-be-forgotten — related
- Under sequential presentation with Likert ratings for every word, no memory benefit emerged for items judged likely to be forgotten; negative ratings predicted the poorest recall — related
- Merely selecting words by clicking on them, without any memorability instructions, enhanced their recall (a choice effect) — related
- Relative to random choice, a metacognitive judgment of remembering boosted recall while a judgment of forgetting was associated with a memory cost — related
- Words participants said they would remember were recalled earlier in output than words predicted to be forgotten or words not given a prediction — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
judging-every-item-remember-enhanced-forget-impaired |
title |
When every word was judged, words circled as to-be-remembered were recalled better and words underlined as to-be-forgotten worse than a no-instruction control group's recall |
description |
When every word was judged, words circled as to-be-remembered were recalled better and words underlined as to-be-forgotten worse than a no-instruction control group's recall |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2023 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-19 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — dillon-h-murphy-2023 |
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