The Role of Social Closeness In the Joint Memory Effect: Comparison between Close Friends and Strangers

This study tested whether social closeness modulates the Joint Memory Effect (JME)—enhanced recall for a partner’s information during joint tasks. Fifty-two dyads of friends or strangers completed a lexical categorization task. While the JME was robustly replicated, no difference emerged between groups, suggesting that co-presence alone elicits partner-based encoding.