The aim of this study was to discover whether asking students to recall success (“solicited ME recall”) enhances PSE for an important skill – writing ideation. In Experiment 1, students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (i) Solicited Focal ME recall, (ii) Solicited Non-Focal ME recall, or (iii) a control group. It was hypothesised that solicited focal ME recall (i.e. recall concerning the skill-in-question) leads to higher PSE than the Non-Focal or control condition. In addition, it was hypothesised that ease-of-retrieval (i.e. the ease/difficulty with which examples are recalled) is associated with posttest PSE during solicited ME recall. Although mean PSE was highest in the Focal ME recall condition, effect sizes were extremely small and differences were not statistically significant. Ease-of-retrieval predicted posttest PSE, but this relationship did not appear to depend on condition. In Experiment 2, students were randomly assigned to either the Focal ME recall or control condition. Results suggested that baseline PSE does not moderate the effect of the intervention on PSE. Although posttest PSE was higher in the ME recall than in the control condition, the effect size was again very small and the difference was not statistically significant. When baseline PSE was controlled, ease-of-retrieval continued to predict posttest PSE. The interaction between ease-of-retrieval and condition (in predicting posttest PSE) was close to statistical significance. This study suggests that asking students to recall success may not be enough to raise their PSE. This has extremely important implications for educators, schools and commentators alike.

这项研究的目的是发现要求学生回忆成功（“自我回忆”）是否可以提高PSE的一项重要技能-写作构想。在实验1中，学生被随机分配到以下三个条件之一：（i）主动性局灶性ME回忆，（ii）主动性非局灶性ME回忆，或（iii）对照组。假设有人要求焦点ME召回（即与问题技能有关的召回）导致的PSE比“非焦点”或控制条件高。另外，假设在请求的ME召回过程中，检索的难易程度（即，召回示例的难易程度/难度）与测试后的PSE相关。尽管在Focal ME召回情况下平均PSE最高，但效果大小极小，差异无统计学意义。易于检索的预测测试后PSE，但这种关系似乎并不取决于条件。在实验2中，将学生随机分配给Focal ME回忆或控制条件。结果表明，基线PSE不会减轻干预对PSE的影响。尽管ME召回的后测PSE高于对照条件，效果大小再次很小，差异无统计学意义。当控制基线PSE时，易于恢复继续预测测试后的PSE。缓解程度和病情之间的相互作用（在预测测试后的PSE中）接近统计学显着性。这项研究表明，要求学生回忆成功可能不足以提高他们的PSE。这对教育者，学校和评论员都具有极其重要的意义。