Is the production effect recollection-based? In Experiment 1, participants decided whether test words were read aloud, read silently, or not seen during study. Participants were better at remembering which words they had read aloud than which words they had read silently. In Experiment 2, the R/K procedure was implemented, with participants asked to make recollect, know, or new judgments for each test item. Participants had more recollections for words they had read aloud than for words they had read silently; importantly, the production effect was restricted to the recollect responses. These experiments support our view that distinctiveness drives the production effect.