Effects of Mnemonic Strategy Manipulation in a Von Restorff Paradigm

Subjects were instructed to use either rote or elaborative strategies to memorize words in a Von Restorff paradigm. When instructed to use rote strategies, subjects displayed a higher Von Restorff effect and a lower recall performance than when instructed to use elaborative strategies. Furthermore the amplitude of the P300 component of the event-related brain potential predicted subsequent recall only when subjects used rote strategies. When subjects used elaborative strategies, the relationship between P300 amplitude and subsequent recall was not observed. These results confirm and expand, in a within-subjects design, the results reported by Karis, Fabiani and Donchin (1984) who capitalized on different strategies used by different subjects. These results also lend support to a 3-phase model of the von Restorff effect.