The Role of Generation and Monitoring Processes in Governing the Paradoxical Effects of Retrieval on Memory For Faces

Verbal descriptions of faces can at times impair and at other times facilitate subsequent face identification accuracy. Three experiments were conducted from a retrieval-based theoretical perspective to determine the underlying cognitive processes that can account for these paradoxical findings. Results demonstrated that the verbal description-identification relationship is analogous to other domains of memory where an initial retrieval of memory can have both positive and negative effects on subsequent retrieval attempts. Results of Experiment 1 showed that verbal facilitation is a product of self-generated descriptions that enrich the semantic encoding of the original memory trace. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that descriptions impair identification accuracy when participants are forced to confabulate details. The negative effects of confabulation can be alleviated through retrieval monitoring and source memory training during the initial and subsequent memory retrieval attempts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed