Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 263-272 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | American Journal of Psychology |
| Volume | 131 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Abstract
Although language production offers a commonly used window into individuals' knowledge, it remains questionable whether oral or written language production allows better diagnostic content validity, for example, in educational or legal settings. Existing results vary with respect to empirical evidence in favor of the oral or the written modality in knowledge assessment. However, for list-like organized knowledge domains (i.e., domains consisting of a definite number of uniform items), a writing superiority effect (WSE) has been consistently observed. We present 3 experiments in which the WSE is replicated and generalized to hitherto untested knowledge domains and participant pools. To estimate the content validity of the verbal recall modes, free recall performance is analyzed as a function of modality, taking into account cued recall performance, which is known to allow more complete knowledge recollection. Throughout all experiments, free recall performance was better in the written than in the oral diagnosis of list-like knowledge. The results recommend written diagnosis at least for similarly structured knowledge domains. Future research should investigate to which degree writing superiority also holds for other kinds of knowledge domains and which language production and retrieval processes are responsible for the effect.
Keywords
- Knowledge diagnosis, Language production, Recall, Speaking, Writing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology(all)
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Psychology(all)
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
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In: American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 131, No. 3, 2018, p. 263-272.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Oral versus written recall of long-term memory items
T2 - Replicating and extending the writing superiority effect across knowledge domains
AU - Janczyk, Markus
AU - Aßmann, Martin
AU - Grabowski, Joachim
N1 - Funding Information: The work of M.J. is supported by the Institutional Strategy of the University of Tübingen (Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft/German Research Foundation ZUK 6). Experiment was approved by the German Ministry of Defense. Address correspondence to Markus Janczyk, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen?Department of ?sychol-ogy, Schleichstraße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany (e-mail: markus.janczyk@uni-tuebingen.de).
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Although language production offers a commonly used window into individuals' knowledge, it remains questionable whether oral or written language production allows better diagnostic content validity, for example, in educational or legal settings. Existing results vary with respect to empirical evidence in favor of the oral or the written modality in knowledge assessment. However, for list-like organized knowledge domains (i.e., domains consisting of a definite number of uniform items), a writing superiority effect (WSE) has been consistently observed. We present 3 experiments in which the WSE is replicated and generalized to hitherto untested knowledge domains and participant pools. To estimate the content validity of the verbal recall modes, free recall performance is analyzed as a function of modality, taking into account cued recall performance, which is known to allow more complete knowledge recollection. Throughout all experiments, free recall performance was better in the written than in the oral diagnosis of list-like knowledge. The results recommend written diagnosis at least for similarly structured knowledge domains. Future research should investigate to which degree writing superiority also holds for other kinds of knowledge domains and which language production and retrieval processes are responsible for the effect.
AB - Although language production offers a commonly used window into individuals' knowledge, it remains questionable whether oral or written language production allows better diagnostic content validity, for example, in educational or legal settings. Existing results vary with respect to empirical evidence in favor of the oral or the written modality in knowledge assessment. However, for list-like organized knowledge domains (i.e., domains consisting of a definite number of uniform items), a writing superiority effect (WSE) has been consistently observed. We present 3 experiments in which the WSE is replicated and generalized to hitherto untested knowledge domains and participant pools. To estimate the content validity of the verbal recall modes, free recall performance is analyzed as a function of modality, taking into account cued recall performance, which is known to allow more complete knowledge recollection. Throughout all experiments, free recall performance was better in the written than in the oral diagnosis of list-like knowledge. The results recommend written diagnosis at least for similarly structured knowledge domains. Future research should investigate to which degree writing superiority also holds for other kinds of knowledge domains and which language production and retrieval processes are responsible for the effect.
KW - Knowledge diagnosis
KW - Language production
KW - Recall
KW - Speaking
KW - Writing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051632049&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5406/amerjpsyc.131.3.0263
DO - 10.5406/amerjpsyc.131.3.0263
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85051632049
VL - 131
SP - 263
EP - 272
JO - American Journal of Psychology
JF - American Journal of Psychology
SN - 0002-9556
IS - 3
ER -