Effects of attendance, note-taking, and review on memory for a lecture: Encoding vs. external storage functions of notes.

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the relative importance of note-taking (an encoding function) and note-reviewing (an external storage function) on memory for a lecture. One week following various conditions of film-viewing, note-taking, and review of notes, 144 college psychology students completed a quiz based on the contents of a videotaped lecture dealing with an unfamiliar but relevant topic. Subjects who reviewed a thorough set of lecturer notes immediately prior to the test performed considerably better than those who had no notes to review, irrespective of whether they had taken personal notes, simply viewed and listened, or had attended the film at all. In addition, the latter three activities had no significant effect on test scores. Finally, subjects who reviewed their own notes performed at an intermediate level, scoring generally lower than those who reviewed lecturer notes but generally higher than those who did not review. These results are interpreted as strong support for an external storage rather than an encoding function of note-taking. It is suggested that future research should investigate the nature of the processing occurring during review.

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