Experimental Design
The study uses a two-part online experimental design implemented across two separate experiments. In Part 1, participants view a balanced set of 20 opinion-article headlines about a salient U.S. policy, with each headline accompanied by a shape indicator. Across all conditions, participants observe the same 20 headlines in randomized order. After each headline, participants classify it according to its stance on the policy, which produces an individual-level record of encoding accuracy. Participants also report an overall emotional reaction to the set of headlines and complete an instructed-response attention check. The information environment is held constant across all conditions within each experiment.
In Experiment 1 (Rehearsal), participants are randomly assigned to one of three groups that differ in a short writing task administered at the end of Part 1. In one group, participants are asked to write about as many headlines as they can remember from Part 1 that are most consistent with their own view on the policy. In a second group, participants are asked to write about headlines that are most inconsistent with their own view. A third, neutral-control group is asked to write about an unrelated topic. All three groups face similar cognitive effort, and writing-task responses are quality-incentivized.
In Experiment 2 (Cue), there is no treatment in Part 1. Random assignment occurs at the start of Part 2, immediately before elicitation. Two groups see a brief visual display associated with the Part 1 shape indicators; a third no-cue-control group proceeds directly to elicitation. The cue contains no new information about the policy itself.
Part 2 of both experiments is conducted approximately 24 hours after Part 1. Participants are recontacted, receive a brief neutral reminder that the Part 1 headlines are relevant for the follow-up, and complete a common battery of questions eliciting recall of the Part 1 content, policy sentiment, policy support, and subjective uncertainty about the Part 1 information environment. Participants also complete a recognition test consisting of the Part 1 headlines presented alongside additional decoys. Accuracy bonuses are attached to the recall and recognition tasks.
The experimental design allows for comparisons of recall, beliefs, and uncertainty across participants exposed to the same information environment but assigned to different retrieval conditions, as well as comparisons within self-reported political-identity groups measured at the end of Part 1.