Choosing what to read out loud while studying: The role of agency in production

Abstract

Both the acts of reading aloud (the production effect) and of making a choice are known to be beneficial for memory, however these benefits are yet to be established outside of typical laboratory settings. In this dissertation, I provide evidence to demonstrate the viability of production and choice for improving memory in the domain of academic studying. Experiments 1 and 2 show that a benefit of pure list production (in which the entire text is read aloud) can be obtained with lengthy narrative texts, while also showing that production benefits materials that have already been read before. Experiment 3, in which some participants chose the parts of a text to read aloud, demonstrates that production and choice can be used in tandem to benefit memory without any of the cost usually seen with production alone. Experiments 4 and 5 dissociated the effects of production and choice and demonstrated a boundary condition wherein one effect can overshadow another. Taken together, these findings show that production and choice – both being simple and powerful techniques – are viable and effective study strategies.