Communication, learning, and retrieval in transactive memory systems

A laboratory experiment examined the impact of communication during learning and during recall on collective recall. Dating couples and dyads of strangers worked together to learn and later recall words in six different knowledge categories. Consistent with past work on transactive memory (Wegner, Erber, & Raymond, 1991), dating couples recalled more words than strangers when not able to communicate during learning. This effect reversed when they could communicate during learning: Strangers recalled more words than dating couples. Also, dyads in the same communication condition during learning and during recall remembered more words than dyads that learned and later recalled in different communication conditions. The data support the proposition that communication can have important effects on the manner in which knowledge is learned and recalled in transactive memory systems. (C) 1998 Academic Press.