What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to understand how item-specific and relational processing contribute to the animacy effect in memory recall.

July 26, 2026Journal of Memory and LanguageOpen Access

Examining the contributions of item-specific and relational processing to the animacy effect in free recall

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Authors

GKGesa Fee KomarHeinrich Heine University Düsseldorf ABAxel BuchnerHeinrich Heine University Düsseldorf LMLaura MiethUniversity of Dundee

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Implication

Randomized trial examines how item-specific and relational processing affect recall of animate versus inanimate words, suggesting implications for memory encoding strategies.

Key Points

The study aims to understand how item-specific and relational processing contribute to the animacy effect in memory recall.
Conducted four experiments examining the animacy effect on word recall.
Used varying list structures to promote different types of processing during encoding.
Applied orienting tasks to assess effects on animate and inanimate word recall.
An orienting task promoting relational processing significantly reduced the animacy effect in Experiments 1 and 2.
In Experiments 3 and 4, promoting item-specific processing caused a small reduction in the animacy effect.
Relational processing had a greater impact on reducing the animacy effect compared to item-specific processing.

Cite This Study

Komar et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a65a49fd3aea3239cd7720a https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2026.104794

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Implication

Randomized trial examines how item-specific and relational processing affect recall of animate versus inanimate words, suggesting implications for memory encoding strategies.

Examining the contributions of item-specific and relational processing to the animacy effect in free recall

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Examining the contributions of item-specific and relational processing to the animacy effect in free recall

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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