[2] The study utilized the isolation paradigm, which refers to a distinctive feature of an item in a list that differs from the others by way of dimension.
Such distinctiveness, leading to the von Restorff effect, can be generated from changing the meaningfulness or physical nature of the stimulus in some way, such as in size, shape, color, spacing and underlining.
Another approach offers that subjects could consider the isolated items to be in their own special category in a free-recall task, making them easier to recollect.
Modern theory holds that the contextual incongruity of the isolate is what leads to the differential attention to this item.
[3] Empirical data has shown a strong relationship between the von Restorff effect and measures of event-related potential in the brain.