The influence of class membership, method of presentation, and restricted association strength on free-recall learning.

Composed free-recall lists of subordinate, superordinate, coordinate, contrasting, or unrelated pairs of words and presented them in random or block order for 8 presentation-recall periods. Ss were 310 undergraduates. Category clustering was greater for each related list relative to the unrelated list and for the subordinate and coordinate lists relative to the other related lists. Recall was superior for the subordinate list relative to the superordinate or unrelated list, and no other interlist differences in recall were obtained. All performance measures were superior with block, compared to random, presentation. The normative strength of conceptual relations was not an influential factor within the range studied. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On some factors in the organizational characteristics of free recall.

Ss "reorganize the material so that the recalls differ in sequential properties from those of the original list." When categorized subgroups of words are presented in a random order and Ss in recall put together or cluster such categorized items, the procedure is called category clustering. Associative clustering occurs "when in their recalls the Ss put together in sequence the stimuli and their responses which had been separated at list presentation" (e.g., stimuli such as table and mountain and responses such as chair and hill were presented in random order in word lists to Ss for recall). Results of several investigations are discussed. "When sufficiently prominent, experimenter-provided associational and categorical relations between members of a word pair provide a basis for clustering in free recall alternative to the bases—associational or otherwise—the S will use to effect subjective organization or idiosyncratic pairing. Free recall can tell us something of the way verbal organization is set up but we are largely in the dark as to how this organization acts to bring related items together whatever the basis of their relationship." 14 figures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category-order effects in memory span.

When Ss are required to recall lists containing both words and digits, memory span is higher when the digits precede the words than when the words precede the digits. In Exp 1, both forward and backward recall were tested; it was demonstrated that this category-order effect reflects the input position, and not the output position, of the items. Exp 2 revealed that this effect was not eliminated by a filled retention interval. Exp 3 showed that the effect was eliminated when lists were presented at a fast presentation rate. In Exp 4, the effect was eliminated when Ss engaged in articulatory suppression. A 5th experiment extended the findings of Exp 4 to the case in which lists are composed of semantically related or unrelated words. These results suggest that category-order effects reflect mnemonic activity that Ss engage in during list presentation and do not arise from structural characteristics of the memory system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's metamemory about the influence of conceptual relations on recall

Developmental differences in children's metamemory about the influence of conceptual relations on free recall were examined. First, third, and fifth grade children memorized two lists of words, a two-category (items blocked by category) and an unrelated list. On both lists, four metamemory measures were obtained from each subject. These were estimates of recall performance, estimates of the cognitive effort associated with that recall performance, causal attributions about recall, and reports of strategy use. At each grade, subjects recalled more words on the related than the unrelated list and demonstrated reliable clustering at recall for the related words. Metamemory about the influence of conceptual relations was demonstrated at each grade level, but the nature of that metamemory changed with age. Even the youngest children realized that their recall performance would be superior on the related list but they did not understand how or why their recall was facilitated. With age, children attributed superior recall of the related material to the categorical relations in the stimuli, reported using categorical organization strategies, and demonstrated increasing awareness of the facilitative effects of conceptual relations on cognitive effort. Older children used their metamemory to direct their use of organizational strategies and to enhance recall on the related list. However, the four aspects of metamemory were not well coordinated at any grade level. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of developing comprehensive, well-elaborated models of metamemory development.     

Organization in memory: A comparison of psychotics and normals.

15 acute schizophrenics, 11 acute psychotic depressives, and 15 normal Ss completed a multitrial free-recall task. The 30 to-be-remembered nouns from 6 conceptual categories were printed, 1 on each card. During self-paced presentation, the nouns were sorted into S-determined categories. Patient recall was inferior. The extent to which successive categorizations of the words during sorting were similar and reflected norms of category membership was measured. No significant group differences were realized. Patient recall clustering, defined both by norms of category membership and subjective sorting categorizations, was inferior. On no measure did schizophrenics and depressives differ. Results indicate that with lists of relatively high semantic content, the recall impairment displayed by schizophrenics and depressives stems mainly from an inability to completely use perceived structuring of the list during recall. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review, recitation, and memory monitoring.

Investigated memory monitoring during the learning of word lists in 110 undergraduates in 2 experiments. Both experiments used a procedure in which the list was presented twice prior to each recall with Ss predicting recall during either the 1st or 2nd presentation. Ss who predicted during the 2nd presentation had the opportunity to review the entire list prior to making their predictions. Results of both experiments suggest that successful monitoring to decide the items that are already encoded (e.g., assessment through covert recall) did not occur during presentation of material but was restricted to recall trials. Reviewing the list had no effect on prediction accuracy when the material was homogeneous (Exp I) but was effective with heterogeneous materials (Exp II). The data from Exp II also show modest learning-to-predict and learning-to-learn effects (i.e., improvement over lists) for Ss predicting recall on the 2nd presentation. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Output interference in long-term memory.

Reports 2 experiments, with 70 and 140 undergraduates, concerning the role of output interference on the recall of organized material. Groups of Ss received blocked presentation of a 49-item list consisting of 7 items in each of 7 categories. At recall, the category name served as the retrieval cue. In Exp. I, a 20-sec recall interval was allowed for each category and 10 Ss were assigned to each group. In Exp. II, this interval was increased to 90 sec. and 20 Ss were assigned to each group. Results of both studies indicate that the number of words recalled from a category is dependent on the position of the category in the output sequence. In general, the earlier a category appears in the output sequence, the greater the number of words recalled from that category. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The sandwich effect: The role of attentional factors in serial recall.

Five experiments tested the prediction, from a simple chaining model, that interleaving irrelevant material will substantially disrupt immediate serial recall. Exp 1 interpolated long or short words between items in an auditory digit span test. These 2 "sandwich" conditions disrupted recall to an equal but moderate extent. Exp 2 presented mixed lists of digits and words, cuing one or the other before or after presentation. Precuing led to substantially better recall. Exp 3 used articulatory suppression to rule out the hypothesis that recall was protected from the sandwich effect by subvocal rehearsal. Exp 4 combined the sandwich effect with a concurrent task, finding clear effects of both but no interaction. Exp 5 showed that the predictability of interpolated material did not influence recall. These results can be explained by adding an attentional preprocessor to standard chaining models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conservation level and category clustering.

Conducted 2 experiments with 180 elementary and junior high school students to test the hypothesis that category recall is related to the quantity conservation of mass, weight, and volume. The predicted association between conservation level and category recall was observed. In Exp I conservation level was varied with word lists. Main effects of both these variables on recall and category clustering scores appeared. Systematic developmental trends in clustering for the high- but not for the low-associative word list were revealed in post hoc analyses. In Exp II, the Ss' organizational bases were studied under a procedure in which the Ss were allowed first to study a stimulus word and then to select a syntagmatic, a paradigmatic, a category inclusive, or an unrelated response word as a mediator to help them remember the stimulus word. Analyses performed on response selections and response selections in relation to recall revealed that Ss who conserved volume showed the highest tendency to select category inclusive responses. It is suggested that more mature Ss are more likely both to select and use superordinate information as an encoding device. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of order information in free recall: Application to the word-frequency effect.

According to an order-encoding account of free recall, the free recall of unrelated words is organized according to their order of presentation in the study list, with unusual items attracting more attentional resources to item encoding than usual items, but at the expense of order encoding. This account correctly predicted (a) better free recall and serial-order memory for high-frequency (HF) than low-frequency (LF) words in pure lists and (b) equivalent serial-order memory for HF and LF words but superior recall of LF words in mixed lists. The mixed-list recall results and the finding that overall list recall did not depend on the proportion of HF words comprising a list are inconsistent with G. Gillund and R. M. Shiffrin's (see record 1984-08340-001) search of associative memory (SAM) explanation. The order-encoding account of the differential effects of other variables (e.g., generation and bizarreness) on free recall in pure versus mixed lists is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does emotion help or hinder immediate memory? Arousal versus priority-binding mechanisms.

People recall taboo words better than neutral words in many experimental contexts. The present rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) experiments demonstrated this taboo-superiority effect for immediate recall of mixed lists containing taboo and neutral words matched for familiarity, length, and category coherence. Under binding theory (MacKay et al., 2004), taboo superiority reflects an interference effect: Because the emotional reaction system prioritizes binding mechanisms for linking the source of an emotion to its context, taboo words capture the mechanisms for encoding list context in mixed lists, impairing the encoding of adjacent neutral words when RSVP rates are sufficiently rapid. However, for pure or unmixed lists, binding theory predicted no better recall of taboo-only than of neutral-only lists at fast or slow rates. Present results supported this prediction, suggesting that taboo superiority in immediate recall reflects context-specific binding processes, rather than context-free arousal effects, or emotion-linked differences in rehearsal, processing time, output interference, time-based decay, or guessing biases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery and paired-associate learning.

In Exp. I with 20 undergraduates, the rate of paired-associate learning varied with the type of stimulus, from fastest to slowest: pictures (P), object names (ON), and category names (CN). The stimulus materials did not differ in meaningfulness, and ON had shorter imaginal latencies than CN. The ON-CN difference was replicated in Exp. II with 15 Ss, but presentation of the appropriate P together with an ON or CN on the 1st study trial did not facilitate acquisition of either list. Exp. III with 20 Ss involved the short-term retention of pairs. Using a measure of conditional recall (of responses, given stimulus recall), forgetting occurred over 18 sec., primarily in the 1st 3 sec., but was unaffected by the type of stimulus. The data led to a reevaluation of the conceptual peg hypothesis. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in dichotic listening with categorized word lists.

Two experiments examined the effects of blocking of word lists (grouped by semantic category membership or randomly ordered) on the dichotic listening performances of 48 2nd and 48 5th graders. For Exp I, shadowing and retention scores were obtained for groups of Ss representing the 4 combinations of blocked and random word lists for targets and distractors. Blocking of distractor lists led to better shadowing scores for 2nd graders. When word pairs were matched by categories in Exp II, 2nd graders who heard blocked lists recognized fewer target words (in retention tests) than did those who heard randomly ordered word lists. Results are interpreted in the context of variables that affect the shadowing performances of younger children and developmental differences in encoding strategies. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of mobilization of knowledge on recognition and recall.

Examined the effect of mobilization of knowledge on recall and recognition in 4 experiments, using 170 undergraduates. In Exp I, the mobilization group generated instances from a specified category and received a study list that contained some of these generated items as well as other members of the category that had not been generated. Control Ss received the same study list after they had generated instances from an irrelevant category. Contrary to previous findings by J. Peeck (see record 1983-22657-001), prior mobilization did not facilitate free recall of the generated study-list items and inhibited recall of nongenerated items. This pattern of recall was replicated in Exp II. The inhibitory effect of prior mobilization on nongenerated items was eliminated in Exp III, which used a recognition memory test. In addition, prior mobilization facilitated the recognition of generated study list items. Exp IV found that when knowledge about the mobilized category was limited, prior mobilization did facilitate free recall but only for generated study-list items. An attempt was made to reconcile data with previous results and to specify the conditions under which mobilization facilitates or inhibits subsequent memory performance. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of source memory to identity one's own episodic confusion errors.

In 4 category cued recall experiments, falsely recalled nonlist common members, a semantic confusion error participants. Errors were more likely if critical nonlist words were presented on an incidental task, causing source memory failures called episodic confusion errors . Participants could better identify the source of falsely recalled words if they had deeply processed the words on the incidental task. For deep but not shallow processing, participants could reliably include or exclude incidentally shown category members in recall. The illusion that critical items actually appeared on categorized lists was diminished but not eradicated when participants identified episodic confusion errors post hoc among their own recalled responses; participants often believed that critical items had been on both the incidental task and the study list. Improved source monitoring can potentially mitigate episodic (but not semantic) confusion errors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subjective and categorical organization of recall during posthypnotic amnesia.

Conducted 2 experiments to determine the fate of organization of recall during posthypnotic amnesia. In both studies, amnesia suggestions were administered to undergraduate Ss of low, medium, and high hypnotic susceptibility who had learned a word list by the method of free recall while they were hypnotized. In Exp I (n?=?44), words were unrelated to each other, and subjective organization was measured by raw and adjusted pair frequency. In Exp II (n?=–&59), words were drawn from various taxonomic categories, and category clustering was measured by repetition ratio, modified repetition ratio, and adjusted ratio of clustering. Results indicate that, compared to baseline levels, subjective organization and category clustering did not decrease reliably during the time the amnesia suggestion was in effect. Moreover, these aspects of strategic organization were not significantly correlated with the number of items recalled during amnesia. Both findings contrast with previous results concerning temporal organization of a word list memorized by the method of serial learning. Findings suggest that the disruption of retrieval processes in posthypnotic amnesia may be limited to certain organizational schemes. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of group and individual remembering: Does collaboration disrupt retrieval strategies?

M. S. Weldon and K. D. Bellinger (1997) showed that people who collaborate on a recall test (collaborative group) perform much more poorly than the same number of people tested individually (nominal group). Four experiments tested the hypothesis that retrieval-strategy disruption underlies this collaborative inhibition when categorized lists are studied. Collaborative groups performed worse than nominal groups when categories were large (Experiment 1) and when category names were provided at recall (Experiment 2). However, collaborative and nominal-group recall were equivalent when participants retrieved nonoverlapping parts of the list (Experiment 3) and when participants were forced to organize their recall by category (Experiment 4). Clearly, disorganized retrieval can account for collaborative inhibition with the materials and procedures used here. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Echoic memory processes in good and poor readers.

Conducted 4 experiments to determine whether echoic memory plays a role in differences between good and poor readers. In Exp I, with 9 poor (mean age 11.05 yrs) and 9 good (mean age 10.9 yrs) readers, and Exp II, with 12 poor (mean age 10.85 yrs) and 12 good (mean age 10.7 yrs) readers, a suffix procedure was used in which the S was read a list of digits with either a tone control or the word go appended to the list. For lists that exceeded the length of the Ss' memory span by 1 digit (i.e., that avoided ceiling effects), poor readers showed a larger decrement in the suffix condition than did good readers. In Exp III, with 14 poor (mean age 10.64 yrs) and 14 good (mean age 10.83 yrs) readers, Ss shadowed words presented to 1 ear at a rate determined to give 75–85% shadowing accuracy. The item presented to the nonattended ear were words and an occasional digit. At various intervals after the presentation of the digit, a light signaled that the S was to cease shadowing and attempt to recall any digit that had occurred in the nonattended ear recently. Whereas good and poor readers recalled the digit equally if tested immediately after presentation, poor readers showed a faster decline in recall of the digit as retention interval increased. In Exp IV, using Ss from Exp II, bursts of white noise were separated by 9–400 msec of silence, and the S was to say whether there were 1 or 2 sounds presented. There were no differences in detectability functions for good and poor readers. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of cueing with list members in free recall as a function of number of categories, taxonomic frequency, and presentation order.

A survey of the literature suggests that the initial failure to obtain recall facilitation when list member cues are presented during free recall can be traced to the absence of 3 necessary factors: (a) high taxonomic frequency (TE) category instances, (b) blocked presentation order, and (c) a list comprising many categories. These factors were manipulated in a study with 160 undergraduates. Cueing was ineffective with low TF instances. However, with high TF instances cueing inhibited recall when the list contained 6 categories and facilitated recall when the list contained 15 categories. Presentation order did not influence the effectiveness of cueing. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further evidence of the intricacy of memory span.

Memory span was measured for lists of verbal items constructed such that the items in the 1st half of the list were of one category and those of the 2nd half were of another. In Exp 1, the lists consisted of digits and words (e.g., 2, 8, 77, horse, cow, sheep or horse, cow, sheep, 2, 8, 7); in Exp 2, they consisted of words from the same semantic domain and words from different semantic domains; in Exps 3 and 4, they consisted of words that rhymed and words that did not rhyme. A category-order effect occurred in each experiment: Span was larger when the digits, same-domain words, or rhyming words occurred in the 1st half of the list than when they occurred in the 2nd half. These findings suggest that memory span is more complex than is generally assumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)