*p<.05
DISCUSSION
Previous studies (Toyota, 1989) showed that targets with pleasant or
vivid episodes were recalled more often than those with unpleasant or
dull episodes. The present study also indicated that the rating scores
for pleasantness and vividness with recalled targets were higher than
those with non-recalled targets. The nostalgia rating score for recalled
targets was higher than that for non-recalled targets. These results
show that nostalgia, pleasantness,
and vividness determine the effectiveness of autobiographical
elaboration.
The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the prediction
that positive correlations among rating scores of attributes and higher
alpha were observed in recalled targets. Nonetheless, those correlations
and alpha were not in non-recalled targets. The results showed a
positive correlation between vividness and nostalgia attributes, and a
higher alpha was observed in recalled targets. Notwithstanding, no
correlations and low alpha were observed in non-recalled targets. These
results supported the prediction and indicated that strong relations
among attributes in an episode led to effective autobiographical
elaboration. According to Hunt (2006), distinctiveness is a critical
memory factor. Thus, the results were interpreted regarding their
distinctiveness. Episodes with strongly connected attributes make the
targets more distinctive than those with weak attributes. Therefore, the
effectiveness of autobiographical elaboration is determined by the
strong relations among the attributes of an episode with a target.
Although the present study indicated the importance of relations among
attributes in an episode, the most crucial attribute for effective
autobiographical elaboration has not been clarified. Toyota (1995)
showed that targets with episodes with the highest vividness ratings
were recalled more often than those with the highest pleasant ratings.
This result was interpreted as indicating the superiority of vividness
to pleasantness. The present study results indicated that the effect
size of vividness was larger than that of the other two attributes,
pleasantness and nostalgia. Therefore, it can be inferred that vividness
is the most effective attribute. However, the effects of combinations of
attributes, such as vivid, pleasant, and nostalgic, on recall were not
examined. Further research is required to explore the most effective
combination of attributes in an episode.
Finally, the methodological problems should be addressed. This is about
the procedure of the rating episode phase. Participants were required to
rate the degree of each attribute in an episode associated with a target
word in the orienting task phase. However, as a time lag existed between
the orienting task phase and the rating episode phase, possibly, each
participant could not precisely remember the episode elicited by each
target during the orienting task phase. This problem was indicated in a
previous study (Toyota, 2012) using the power-point slide presentation
procedure. It is difficult for participants to rate in such a
presentation because the targets were presented on a screen at the front
of the classroom and the rating sheet was close to them.
Further research is necessary to provide a booklet of targets for each
participant and rate the degree of attributes in an episode with each
target during the orienting task phase. Another problem concerns the
attributes of the target word itself. As the present study focused on
the episode elicited by each target, the attributes of each target word
itself have not been examined precisely. For example, if each target is
associated with general episodes, such as a book eliciting an
episode of studying hard, it would be difficult to discriminate between
general episodes and personal episodes with each target.
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