How do you cue? : self-generated retrieval cues and successfull recall

Sammanfattning: The present thesis deals with the determinants of good memory performance. A more specific objective of the thesis was to examine prerequisites for successful recall performance from the point of view of cue effectiveness. The concept of cue effectiveness was proposed as a superordinate construct underlying the act of remembering in general as well as,exceptional memory performance. It was argued that to the extent that effective cues are provided when retrieval is attempted, good recall would be obtained even without use of specific mnemonic systems. Two characteristics of cue effectiveness were assumed to determine the level of recall performance. First, a retrieval cue has to provide a compatible description of the information encoded, and second, an optimal cue is the one that also represents a distinctive description of that information. Provided that these two characteristics of cue effectiveness are fullfilled, successful recall was expected to occur. In order to optimize cue efficiency an experimental paradigm was introduced. The main feature of the self-generation paradigm is that, in contrast to traditional cued-recall experiments, subjects are provided with cues, which according to the individual's own conceptualization constitute an appropriate description of the previously encoded information. The four studies composing the empirical section of the thesis, demonstrated, first, that self-generated cues serve as extremely powerful retrieval aids. Secondly, it was demonstrated that compatibility and distinctiveness may be the cardinal concepts underlying the empirical phenomenon per se and the essence of the notion of cue effectiveness. Finally, it was proposed that the methodological contribution is of such a nature that it may apply successifully to more practical situations.