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Abstract

Previous work on memory phenomena shows that pictures and words lead to a production effect, i.e. better memory for aloud than silent items, and that this interacts with the picture superiority effect, i.e. better memory for pictures than words (Fawcett, Quinlan and Taylor, 2012). We investigated the role of the generation effect, i.e. improved memory for generated words, in picture naming. As picture naming requires participants to think of an appropriate label, a generation effect might be elicited for pictures but not words. Forty-two participants named pictures silently or aloud and were given the correct picture name or an unreadable label; all conditions included pictures to control for the picture superiority effect. Memory was then tested using a yes/no recognition task. We found a production effect (p < 0.001) showing the role of articulation in memory, a generation effect (p < 0.001) showing the role of lexical access in memory, and an interaction (p <0.05) between the two suggesting the non-independence of the effects. Ongoing work further tests the role of label reliability in eliciting these effects. This research demonstrates a role for the generation effect in picture naming, with implications for memory asymmetries at different stages in language production.