The Influence Of Physical Features On The Subject Performed Task Advantage Effects In Action Memory

The present study applied two experiments to explore whether physical featuresplay parts in subject performed task advantage effects as well as to analyze its combinedprocessing mechanism. Experiment1employed2type of encoding (SPT vs. VT)×2physical features (present vs. absent)×2item familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar)mixed experimental design, in which the former two variables were between-subjectsfactors and item familiarity variable was within-subject factor, to investigate theinfluence of physical features on the subject performed task advantage effects whenindividuals learnt the materials with different familiarity. The findings showed thatduring the learning process of familiar materials, enactment effect covered up the effectof physical features and the interaction between type of encoding and physical featureswas not significant. However, this kind of mask did not appear when subjects learntunfamiliar materials and the interaction between type of encoding and physical featureswas significant at this time. Specifically, the presence of physical features enhanced thememory performance in SPT encoding condition more obviously than the improvementof memory performance in VT encoding condition. The results in experiment1suggested that physical features played positive roles in subject performed taskadvantage effects though the influence was limited by item familiarity. Based on thisconclusion, experiment2used type of encoding (SPT vs. VT)×2number of physicalfeatures (shape vs. shape and color) two-factor within-subject design to illustrate thecombined processing mechanism of shape and color physical features in subjectperformed task advantage effects. Whereas, the results proved that shape and colorphysical features did not influence the subject performed task advantage effects in acombination processing method. At the same time, the findings suggested that only thepresence of shape physical feature could provide enough sensory information for motorencoding. And on this basis, the presence of color physical feature could not futureimprove the memory performance significantly. Generally speaking, this research verified the positive influence of physical features in subject performed task advantageeffects or the positive impact of image encoding in motor encoding under a certaincondition.By controlling the familiarity of experimental materials we got the resultsillustrating that multimodality theory and motor encoding theory were reasonablerespectively. When individuals learnt unfamiliar materials, the best way for improvingmemory performance was the presence of rich sensory information at first and theguidance of motor encoding in the next place. As a result, the future empirical studiesin this field should pay much attention to the effect of item familiarity on experimentalvalidity.