Although it is well-documented in the literature that semantic congruence positively impacts memory in general and incidental memory in particular, it is unknown whether this effect extends to frame-semantic congruence. The primary objective of this study was to reveal whether frame-semantic congruence has a positive effect on incidental memory. This was an experimental study using a timed judgment task and a subsequent free recall task. 248 participants judged 30 food labels — of which 2 were frame-semantically congruent and 2 were frame-semantically incongruent, and the rest were distractors — with regard to their realness as quickly as possible. Next, participants listed as many of the items from the timed judgment task as possible in a free recall task. A Poisson mixed model showed no significant effects of frame-semantic (in)congruence on memorability of food labels. However, a McNemar’s test showed a significant difference between the two frame-semantically congruent food labels: crispy chips significantly outperformed crunchy lettuce , a pattern which was also observed in the reaction times. Frame-semantically congruent food labels may enhance incidental memory when applied to some but not all types of foods. However, this remains to be corroborated by further studies.
Johnson et al. (Mon,) studied this question.