Generation Effect: What It Is And How It Can Be Used To Learn Better

For decades, several psychologists have dedicated themselves to studying a psychological phenomenon as complex as it is interesting: human memory and the different types into which it can be subdivided (e.g., short-term, long-term, declarative, procedural, etc.), as well as the processes that are put in place so that we can retain information, among which is the generation effect.

The generation effect is a phenomenon that has been discovered when some researchers find that people are able to remember a substantially greater amount of information when it is generated by themselves compared to information that has only been heard or read. This would show that to study efficiently, it is advisable to use a more active method that requires greater effort, instead of reading the text alone.

In this article we will explain in more detail What does this phenomenon related to human memory that has been called the “generation effect” consist of? We will also see some research on this and its relationship with the development of false memories.

What is the generation effect?

For several decades, several psychologists who are researchers in the area of ​​memory have been studying a psychological phenomenon that has been called the “generation effect” (GE), which was discovered in the 1970s by a team of cognitive psychologists when They were able to observe, when carrying out experiments on the vocabulary of some subjects investigated, that they were able to remember words more easily when they generated them; In other words, rThey remembered words better when they actively brought them to mind rather than reading them off a page

The generation effect, therefore, consists of the fact that people are able to remember a greater amount of information and bring it back to our mind more quickly when it has been generated with ourselves, compared to the capacity we have. to remember that information that we had only read or heard. This would show that to study efficiently for an exam, it is advisable to use a more active method that requires greater effort, instead of reading the text passively without making greater efforts to learn.

Ways to take advantage of the generation effect when studying

There are several advantages when taking advantage of the benefits that the generation effect could give us when it comes to memorize the information contained in a syllabus that is included in the exam we are going to take

First of all, it is advisable to summarize what we have read in our own words and try to memorize what we have understood with those words that we have used to summarize it, instead of reading it over and over again as it appears in the text, trying to memorize it at once.

Another highly advisable exercise would be the development of concept maps where the most important concepts are captured, so that when the student takes a look at the map they find an overview of the syllabus in a structured way that they can complete mentally by thinking about the meaning of each one of the concepts that appear embodied in it.

According to the generation effect, we will learn more easily and a greater amount of information if we use our own language based on what we have understood from what we have read and we make an effort to actively try to match one part of the information with another, instead of trying to passively memorize it identically to how it is written

Other ways to take advantage of the generation effect that could help students retain a greater amount of information would be to carry out exercises in which words are missing in the text that they must fill in, or also with exercises in which lists of words appear in which they are missing. some word that they must guess based on the category, so in both cases they must make an effort to complete the information, allowing them to retain the information better than if all the words appeared and the student only had to read them.

That is why the generation effect has been studied exhaustively for several decades and has come to be considered an advantage for our memory and in order to acquire new knowledge or to carry out any general learning task, and that is because There are three main reasons to take this effect into account when studying or trying to acquire new knowledge:

In short, if we take into account the generation effect when studying or learning, we will be more efficient and it is more likely that we will be able to retain a greater amount of information and also will be stored longer in our long-term memory since this effect is considered a great advantage for memory when trying to retain information.

Research carried out on the generation effect

There are numerous investigations and experiments that have been carried out to study the generation effect.

Among them is the experiment that was carried out by a team of psychologists from the University of Toronto, led by Norman Slamecka, in which the participating subjects had to memorize a series of antonym words (e.g., cold and hot). . However, not all volunteers in the experiment received the same type of cards. Half of them received a series of cards on which antonyms were written (e.g., hot-cold), while the other half received cards on which only the initial letter of the second word appeared (e.g., hot-f).

The results of this experiment were surprising, revealing that The participating subjects who best remembered the cards were those who had obtained the cards with missing letters because only the initial letter appeared in the second word. This experiment that confirms the generation effect shows that when it comes to memorizing information, if we put a lot of effort into it, using an active learning mode in which we have paid a lot of attention, our brain will allow us to better understand that information and, therefore, Therefore, we will retain it better.

A meta-analytic review on the generation effect that was published in 2007 by Sharon Bertsh and her collaborators were able to demonstrate that the generation effect is a solid and consistent finding as a psychic phenomenon related to learning and memory. However, some of the experiments carried out on the generation effect that they analyzed for the meta-analysis had been carried out with relatively small samples of subjects, so they encourage other researchers to replicate and/or apply their findings.

Even so, there is a large number of studies that have shown that the generation effect is a phenomenon that can be considered real and that should be more investigated to have greater empirical demonstration

Relationship between the generation effect and false memories

In recent years there has been a phenomenon within research on the generation effect that has raised a lot of interest and it is none other than the relationship that has been found that could have an influence on the production of “false memories”, these being information recorded in memory that does not correspond to what a person has actually experienced. This has aroused so much interest because it is negative and even paradoxical that a phenomenon such as the generation effect, which represents a memory advantage, can also be related to false memories.

It represents a great challenge for psychologists who are dedicated to research related to the area of ​​memory, to try to study and understand how it is possible that a phenomenon such as the generation effect can produce such opposite results as the development of false memories and the once a help when retain a greater amount of information

At a theoretical level, there is research that has found that the generation effect occurs due to the multiplication of networks of meaning that have been promoted during the learning task; However, these networks can become the cause of false memories.

However, in some experimental studies that have been carried out in order to evaluate the relationship between the generation effect and the production of false memories, they have found a series of contradictory results, so they have not been able to confirm that this hypothesis is true. On the other hand, studies carried out in 2007 concluded that the generation effect had no association with the development of false memories, while there were some that did find a high relationship between both phenomena.

The conclusion drawn in 2012 by a group of researchers (Martínez et al.) is that There is no evidence that the generation effect produces an increase in false memories being consistent with a wide variety of studies, which is why they stated that this phenomenon is very beneficial for learning and memorizing information, so it can be very relevant for students.