Rossi-Arnaud, C. 1 , Spataro, P. 4 , Pieroni, L. 4 & Cestari, V. 2, 3
1 Dept of Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
2 Dept of Educational Sciences, LUMSA University, Rome, Italy
3 CNR Institute of Cellular Biology and Neurobiology, Rome, Italy
4 Dept of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
Collaboration impairs free recall (Weldon & Bellinger, 1997; Wright & Klump, 2004), but facilitates recognition (Clark et al., 2006). The present study investigated the effects of pair collaboration and word-frequency on recognition memory, using the “remember/know” procedure. The aim was to test the predictions of the information-exchange hypothesis (Clark et al., 2000), which states that collaborative facilitation occurs when participants are able to share recollective memories with other members of the group. Results showed that recognition performance was significantly better in the collaborative than in the individual condition, and better for low- than for high-frequency words. The advantage of collaborating pairs was produced by an increase of correct hits, coupled with a significant reduction of false alarms. The analysis of the “remember” (R) and “know” (K) responses indicated that the effects of group collaboration and word-frequency were larger on recollection than on familiarity processes. It is concluded that both variables influence the retrieval of the contextual details associated with the target words. It is also proposed that a reduction in the probability to accept new items on the basis of familiarity (K) responses may account for the decrease in false alarms in collaborative groups.