verbal overshadowing effect / effet d'ombrage verbal
Synonyms: VOE
Group: Human, Psychology, Thematic grouping Memory and Law
Groupe : Homme, Psychologie, Regroupement thématique Mémoire et justice
Definition: A memory phenomenon that occurs when verbally describing memories of nonverbal information (e.g. a face) impairs their subsequent retrieval.
Définition : Phénomène de la mémoire apparaissant quand le fait de décrire verbalement des souvenirs d’informations non verbales (par exemple, un visage) détériore leur récupération subséquente.
Broader term: memory phenomenon
Terme générique : phénomène de la mémoire
Related terms: visual memory, eyewitness testimony, face memory, Person Description Interview, police lineup
Termes associés : mémoire visuelle, témoignage oculaire, mémoire des visages, Entretien de description des personnes, tapissage
Selected bibliography: Alogna, V. K., Attaya, M. K., Aucoin, P., Bahník, Š., Birch, S., Birt, A. R., Bornstein, B. H., Bouwmeester, S., Brandimonte, M. A., Brown, C., Buswell, K., Carlson, C., Carlson, M., Chu, S., Cislak, A., Colarusso, M., Colloff, M. F., Dellapaolera, K. S., Delvenne, J.-F., … Zwaan, R. A. (2014). Registered Replication Report : Schooler and Engstler-Schooler (1990). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(5), 556–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614545653 [Study type: empirical study, replication / Access: free], Baker, M., & Reysen, M. (2020). The influence of recall instruction type and length on the verbal overshadowing effect. The American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 38, 3–29. [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed], Baker, M. A., & Reysen, M. B. (2021). Using intentional and incidental encoding instructions to test the transfer inappropriate processing shift account of verbal overshadowing. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 0(0), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.1946545 [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed], Hatano, A., Ueno, T., Kitagami, S., & Kawaguchi, J. (2015). Why verbalization of non-verbal memory reduces recognition accuracy: A computational approach to verbal overshadowing. PLoS ONE, 10(6). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127618 [Study type: empirical study / Access: open], Holdstock, J. S., Dalton, P., May, K. A., Boogert, S., & Mickes, L. (2022). Lineup identification in young and older witnesses: Does describing the criminal help or hinder? Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7(1), 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00399-1 [Study type: empirical study / Access: open], Marmurek, H. H. C., Rusyn, R., Zgardau, A., & Zgardau, A.-M. (2022). Verbal overshadowing at an immediate task-test delay is independent of video-task delay. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34(2), 243–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.1981916 [Study type: empirical study, replication / Access: closed], Meissner, C. A., & Brigham, J. C. (2001). A meta-analysis of the verbal overshadowing effect in face identification. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 15(6), 603‑616. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.728 [Study type: meta-analysis / Access: closed], Meissner, C. A., Sporer, S. L., & Susa, K. J. (2008). A theoretical review and meta-analysis of the description-identification relationship in memory for faces. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 20(3), 414–455. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440701728581 [Study type: literature review, meta-analysis / Access: closed], Mickes, L., & Wixted, J. T. (2015). On the applied implications of the “verbal overshadowing effect.” Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(3), 400–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615576762 [Study type: literature review / Access: closed], Pohl, R. F. (2022). Labeling and overshadowing effects. In R. F. Pohl (Ed.), Cognitive illusions: Intriguing phenomena in thinking, judgment, and memory (3rd ed.). Routledge. [Study type: literature review / Access: closed], Schooler, J. W., & Engstler-Schooler, T. Y. (1990). Verbal overshadowing of visual memories: Some things are better left unsaid. Cognitive Psychology, 22(1), 36-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(90)90003-M [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed], Wilson, B. M., Seale-Carlisle, T. M., & Mickes, L. (2018). The effects of verbal descriptions on performance in lineups and showups. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 147(1), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000354 [Study type: empirical study, replication / Access: closed]
Dataset citations: Holdstock, J., Dalton, P., May, K., Boogert, S., & Mickes, L. (2022, May 10). Lineup identification in young and older witnesses: Does describing the criminal help or hinder?. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7EA23, Protzko, J., & Lundmark, S. (2022, November 12). Verbal Overshadowing 5-10-15-20 with E/C timing manipulation and sham. https://osf.io/4v9jq, Protzko, J., Schooler, J., & Lundmark, S. (2022, March 10). Verbal Overshadowing 20 min with new distractor tasks. https://osf.io/892st/, Protzko, J., Schooler, J., & Lundmark, S. (2022, September 28). Verbal Overshadowing 11-12.5-14 timing manipulation. https://osf.io/v3ugq, Simons, D. J., Holcombe, A. O., Schooler, J., Drew, A., Spellman, B., & Ballard-Wood, A. (2014, August 7). RRR—Schooler & Engstler-Schooler (1990). https://osf.io/ybeur/