COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 9, 1-30 (1977) The Translation Effect in Memory Search CHARLES CLIFTON,JR., AND PATRICIA SORCE University of Massachusetts, Amherst AND DONNA CRUSE Oregon State University The function relating recognition reaction time to the size of a memorized set of items is steeper when the memorized items and the probe are in two different categories, related by a memorized translation scheme, than when they are in the same category. Experiment 1 demonstrates that this “translation effect” is obtained for both familiar and unfamiliar translation schemes and further demonstrates that the zero-intercepts of the functions are lower when the probe differs from the memorized items in category than when it does not. Experiment 2 demonstrates that the slopes of the functions relating negative RT to memorized set size when probe and set are the same in category are steeper than the slopes of the corresponding positive functions just in case subjects are aware that the probe and set categories may differ. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the translations between memorized items and a probe that differ in category are done during the rehearsal of the memorized set, not after the probe is presented. Arguments are presented that rehearsal strategy determines memory comparison time, presumably through a hypothetical memory strength variable, but that direct-access strength theories that deny a memory scanning process are inadequate to account for the data. People are able to recognize and evaluate information that is not literally the same as information previously presented to them. We are able to judge the truth of an assertion which is, at best, a paraphrase of a previous assertion. We are able to recognize a visual scene as repre- senting a place we have seen at a different time, under different circum- stances, or, perhaps, which we have only heard about. In many ways, we must have the ability to translate, or recode, information from one form to another. The present research examines one manifestation of such an ability. It deals with the recoding of information which can be presumed to This research was supported in part by Grant MH-23939 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, in the preparation of this report, thank Sally Gentry for her help in Experiment 3, and thank Jane Perlmutter for her valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. Reprint requests should be sent to Charles Clifton, Jr., Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01002. Copyright 0 1977 by Academic Press, Lnc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved