Predictions about likely upcoming input may promote rapid language processing, but the mechanisms by which such predictions are generated remain unclear. One hypothesis is that comprehenders use their production system to covertly produce what they would say if they were the speaker. If reading predictable words involves covert production, this act might have consequences for memory. The present study capitalized on the production effect, which is the observation that words read aloud are remembered better than words read silently. Participants read sentence-final predictable and unpredictable words aloud or silently, followed by a surprise recognition memory task. If reading predictable words involves covert production, the memory improvement from actually producing the words should be smaller for predictable words than for unpredictable words. This was confirmed in Experiment 1, which tested item memory using old/new judgments. Experiment 2 followed the same procedure, except that participants now made aloud/silent judgments probing their memory for prior acts of production. Here the hypothesis was that, relative to unpredictable words, it should be more difficult to remember whether predictable words had been read aloud or silently. Indeed, word predictability tended to make it harder to tell the difference, suggesting that predictability blurred the lines between production and comprehension. Taken together, the findings support the idea that reading predictable words can involve covert production and show that this act has consequences for what readers retain.

中文翻译：

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单词可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限：来自记忆中生产效果的证据。

对可能即将到来的输入的预测可能会促进快速的语言处理，但产生这种预测的机制仍不清楚。一种假设是，理解者使用他们的生产系统来秘密地生产如果他们是说话者会说的话。如果阅读可预测的单词涉及隐蔽生产，则此行为可能会对记忆产生影响。本研究利用了生产效应，即观察到大声朗读的单词比默读的单词更容易记住。参与者大声或默读句子最后的可预测和不可预测的单词，然后进行意外识别记忆任务。如果阅读可预测单词涉及隐蔽生产，那么对于可预测单词而言，实际生成单词的记忆改善应该小于不可预测单词。这在实验 1 中得到证实，该实验使用旧/新判断来测试项目记忆。实验 2 遵循相同的程序，除了参与者现在做出大声/无声的判断，探查他们对先前生产行为的记忆。这里的假设是，相对于不可预测的单词，更难记住可预测的单词是被大声朗读还是默读。事实上，词的可预测性往往使区分差异变得更加困难，这表明可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限。综上所述，这些发现支持了这样一种观点，即阅读可预测的单词可能涉及隐蔽生产，并表明这种行为会对读者保留的内容产生影响。除了参与者现在做出大声/无声的判断来探究他们对先前制作行为的记忆。这里的假设是，相对于不可预测的单词，更难记住可预测的单词是被大声朗读还是默读。事实上，词的可预测性往往使区分差异变得更加困难，这表明可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限。总之，这些发现支持这样一种观点，即阅读可预测的单词可能涉及隐蔽生产，并表明这种行为会对读者保留的内容产生影响。除了参与者现在做出大声/无声的判断来探究他们对先前制作行为的记忆。这里的假设是，相对于不可预测的单词，更难记住可预测的单词是被大声朗读还是默读。事实上，词的可预测性往往使区分差异变得更加困难，这表明可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限。总之，这些发现支持这样一种观点，即阅读可预测的单词可能涉及隐蔽生产，并表明这种行为会对读者保留的内容产生影响。应该更难记住可预测的词是大声朗读还是默读。事实上，词的可预测性往往使区分差异变得更加困难，这表明可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限。综上所述，这些发现支持了这样一种观点，即阅读可预测的单词可能涉及隐蔽生产，并表明这种行为会对读者保留的内容产生影响。应该更难记住可预测的词是大声朗读还是默读。事实上，词的可预测性往往使区分差异变得更加困难，这表明可预测性模糊了生产和理解之间的界限。总之，这些发现支持这样一种观点，即阅读可预测的单词可能涉及隐蔽生产，并表明这种行为会对读者保留的内容产生影响。