Social And Cognitive Factors In Collaborative Memory

Collaborative inhibition was a stable phenomenon constantly found in the studies about collaborative memory,that in recollection stage,the collaborative groups usually recall less than the sum of same amount of participants recalled individually(non-redundant).The present study tried to distinguish the contributions of cognitive factors and social factors in collaboration memory respectively.To do this we conducted three experiments in the context of collaborative inhibition.Experiment 1 is concentrated on the different effects of information processing and interpersonal collaboration on collaborative recall,using a 3(level of collaboration:true collaboration,virtual collaboration,individual)× 3(presentation:mixed,respectively,hints only)mixing factors design.Both learning and recollection phase were conducted through computer,using unrelated words as a memory materials,which has two Chinese characters,and college students as subjects(two students in one group).Subjects were instructed to memorize words individually,but in recollection stage they whether collaborated with partner(true collaboration),or collaborated with computer(virtual collaboration),or completed it individually.The results showed that the main effect of the level of collaboration was significant:they recalled less words in true collaboration condition than in individual condition,but more than virtual collaboration.Different presentations made no difference,they recalled equally in three condition.And the interaction between level of collaboration and presentation was not significant ether.Experiment 2 investigated the effect of collaborative encoding.Based on the previous experiment,experiment 2 added collaboration in coding phase.Undergraduate were instructed to collaborate while they were memorizing the words,and the recollection stage was identical to experiment 1.The results showed that the main effect of level of collaboration was significant.in which virtual collaboration group was significantly lower than the other two.But there was no difference between real collaboration and individual conditions.When compared with the experiment 1,the numbers of words they recalled in collaborative encoding and individual encoding had no significant difference.Experiment 3 used a different way of free recall,trying to examine whether different ways of recall can affect the collaborative memory.This experiment was similar to experiment 1,except in recollection subjects were asked to write down the words using pen and paper whether together or individually.It was found that in individual condition they recalled significantly more words than recall together.And the data was in agreement with experimental 1.According to the data of those experiments above,it was concluded that:① Collaborative inhibition is resulted from additional information presentation,which produced by their partners’ recalling in collaborative recollection stage.And this only exists under an individual coding condition.When students memorize collaboratively there is no difference between collaborative recalling and individually recalling.② Interpersonal interaction in recollection stage has a certain role of promoting in collaborative memory.③And the Interpersonal interaction in encoding stage also has positive effect,at least no negative effect,on collaborative memory.④Recall manners and whether individuals are subjected to a separate evaluation of the final results have no significant influence on group recollection.