ABSTRACT
A growing number of memory studies have recently explored the usefulness of a new experimental paradigm involving subject-performed tasks (SPTs). In this task subjects are presented with an object (e.g., a match, a pen) and an instruction about what to do with each object (e.g., break the match, lift the pen). The subject is then required to perform each act and remember them for subsequent free recall. In the control condition of these experiments, subjects are presented with the same imperatives (e.g., "break the match", "lift the pen") or the noun in each imperative (e.g., match, pen) without any requirement of enactment and are asked to recall as many of these as possible. Most experiments in this paradigm have shown interesting but as yet unexplained differences in recall patterns between enacted and non-enacted events. Some of the results obtained in recall of enacted events bear striking similarities with those obtained in implicit memory tests, despite the fact that the former task seems to involve the type of conscious recollection central to explicit but not implicit tests. This chapter explores and compares the role of conscious recollection in recall of enacted and non-enacted events.
