Was the item recalled and if so by whom?

In a single-trial free recall paradigm using 10 categorized or 10 random word lists, two individuals (Self and Other) alternatively recalled the items of each list. Subsequently they judged (a) which items were recalled and (b) which person (Self or Other) recalled the items judged as having been recalled. A standard, single-subject free recall paradigm was also employed. The results indicated that Self correctly judged an item as having beer recalled with a higher probability than judging items that Other recalled, supporting the generation effect ( Slamecka & Graf, 1978). Judgment of item recall was thus presumed due to response-produced cues related to item recall by Other and by Self as well as to cues generated by Self in the process of recalling the item. In addition, source identification (Self or Other) for items judged as recalled yielded 75–80% accuracy, and although identification of which person recalled the item was not significantly different for Self-recalled and Other-recalled items, additional results supported Self's use of a strategy in which Self first sought cues related to his/her own recall of an item and responded “self” if the cues were found and “other” if they were not found. The results are discussed in relation to the generation effect and to the concept of reality monitoring.