The Role of Two Types of Outcome on Storage and Retrieval Processes in Memory

Abstract

Two experiments are reported which demonstrate the typical finding of better performance on responses given positive outcomes as compared to performance on responses given negative and neutral outcomes. These effects of reinforcement are studied in more detail in the context of storage and retrieval processes. “Right” or “wrong” and monetary gain or loss were used as outcomes in the experiments. Both these types of outcome were found to have similar effects on storage, while the former tended to affect retrieval more than the latter outcomes did. The results clearly reject the notion that an outcome is stored along with the response to facilitate retrieval. A prerequisite for such a facilitation is a presentation of cues for retrieval at the time of test.