Does the song remain the same? Further investigations of the singing superiority effect

Abstract

The production effect refers to the finding that words read aloud are better remembered than words read silently. This finding is typically attributed to the presence of additional sensorimotor features, appended to the memory trace by the act of reading aloud, which are not present for items read silently. Supporting this perspective, the production effect tends to be larger for singing than reading aloud (the singing superiority effect), possibly due to the inclusion of further sensorimotor features (e.g., more variable tone). However, the singing superiority effect has not always replicated. Across two experiments, I demonstrated robust production effects for both reading aloud and singing but observed a singing superiority effect only when items were tested in the same colour in which they were studied (with foils randomized to colour). A series of meta-analytic models revealed the singing superiority effect to be smaller than previously thought, and to emerge only when test items are presented in the same colour in which they were studied. This outcome is inconsistent with common distinctiveness-based theoretical accounts.