The spatial-arrangement mnemonic.

The spatial-arrangement or word-arrangement mnemonic suggests that lists of words can be better remembered if they are arranged into distinctive spatial patterns. In the present study, 97 undergraduates studied 6 lists of 12 words each. In one condition each list was spatially arranged in the same pattern, and in the other condition each list was formed into a distinctive pattern. A 2nd factor was also tested. Ss were instructed either in the use of the link mnemonic or were given no special learning instructions. Three learning trials were followed by a 1-wk retention interval. It was found that both the link mnemonic and the distinctive word arrangements enhanced recall during acquisition, but only word arrangement had a significant effect on retention. Ss presented with distinctive word arrangements could recall 63% of the words originally learned, compared to 51% for Ss presented homogeneous patterns of words. It is suggested that the word-arrangement mnemonic may be valuable both as a study procedure and as a factor in the design of educational materials. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for self-generated narration in the elderly.

The story mnemonic technique, an effective encoding and retrieval strategy for young adults, was used as a procedure to study encoding and recall in elderly women. Exp 1 (15 undergraduate and 14 elderly women) showed the technique to be reliable over 3 wks and without practice effects in both age groups. In Exp 2, 67 elderly women (mean age 72 yrs) were found to make up 3 distinctive subgroupings in patterns of narration cohesiveness and recall accuracy, consistent with pilot data on the technique. A stepwise multiple regression equation found narration cohesiveness, an adaptation of the Daneman-Carpenter (1980) working-memory measure, and vocabulary to predict word recall. Results suggested that a general memory factor differentiated the 3 elderly subgroups. (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)     

Effects of talker variability on recall of spoken word lists.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate recall of lists of words containing items spoken by either a single talker or by different talkers. In each experiment, recall of early list items was better for lists spoken by a single talker than for lists of the same words spoken by different talkers. The use of a memory preload procedure demonstrated that recall of visually presented preload digits was superior when the words in a subsequent list were spoken by a single talker than by different talkers. In addition, a retroactive interference task demonstrated that the effects of talker variability on the recall of early list items were not due to use of talker-specific acoustic cues in working memory at the time of recall. Taken together, the results suggest that word lists produced by different talkers require more processing resources in working memory than do lists produced by a single talker. The findings are discussed in terms of the role that active rehearsal plays in the transfer of spoken items into long-term memory and the factors that may affect the efficiency of rehearsal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mnemonic organization in young nonpsychotic schizophrenics.

Describes 2 experiments with 18-27 yr old nonpsychotic schizophrenics (n = 32), nonschizophrenic psychiatric patients (n = 112), and nonhospitalized normals (n = 32). In Exp. I, Ss were given repeated free-recall trials of 20 "unrelated" words and of 20 categorized words. The schizophrenics' recall and mnemonic organization, as indexed by measures of subjective organization, categorical clustering, and hierarchical clustering schemes, were both inferior to those of the normals and, to some extent, to those of the nonschizophrenics. While the normals and nonschizophrenics tended to build up higher-order mnemonic units with trials, this trend was weak in the schizophrenics. In Exp. II, nonpsychotic schizophrenics and normals engaged in repeated recognition tasks of 40 words and 40 consonant-vowel-consonant trigrams. The recognition memory of the schizophrenics was the same as that of the normals, in spite of contextual variations of the study and test lists. Results are interpreted on the basis of the 2-process theory of recall as supporting the view that the basic deficit of schizophrenia in mnemonic processing is a difficulty in unitizing the material. (36 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encoding conditions and the list-strength effect.

The list-strength effect occurs when "strong" items within a list are remembered at the expense of "weak" items within that same list. Two experiments (using 185 college student Ss) showed that variably encoded words were remembered better than words repeated with the same encoding context, whether memory was measured by free recall, frequency estimates, or recognition d'. However, there was little or no evidence from any of the measures that the variably encoded words were recollected in the mixed lists at the expense of the similarly encoded words. This pattern held even though, in Exp 2, there was a list-strength effect on free recall, when list strength was manipulated by increasing the number of presentations of a word. It is concluded that the free recall results could not be accommodated by the model of memory postulated by R. M. Shiffrin et al (see record 1990-13917-001) to account for the effects of list strength. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does part-set cuing test for memory organization? Evidence from reconstructions of chess positions.

Two studies with 12 casual and 12 tournament chess players (undergraduates) examined the relationship between part-set cuing and the organization of memory. After studying partly played chess games, Ss tried to reconstruct the board positions from memory, starting sometimes with a clear board and sometimes with half of the pieces already in place. For neither casual players (Exp I) nor tournament players (Exp II) did the placed pieces improve positioning of the remaining pieces. This result parallels the standard finding of no facilitation through part-set cuing in the recall of word lists and sheds some light on whether this finding is due to memory for word lists not being organized or to the failure of the part-set cuing procedure to detect its organization. To the extent that one can be more sure of memory for chess positions being organized than one can be of memory for word lists being organized, the present findings suggest that the part-set cuing procedure does not test for memory organization. (French abstract) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schemas and images as memory aids: Two modes of processing social information.

Proposes that schemas, informational structures characterized as verbal or propositional, are more effective as memory aids for information about the self than for information about other people. It is also proposed that images, informational structures characterized as visual or imaginal, are more effective as memory aids for information about other people than for information about the self. Two parallel experiments were performed. In Exp I, 24 undergraduates who were asked to decide whether various trait adjectives described either themselves or other people showed superior subsequent recall for the self-referent words. In Exp II, 24 undergraduates asked to form mental images of either themselves or other people interacting with various concrete objects showed inferior subsequent recall for the self-referent words. These divergent results and several current findings suggest that schemas and images may involve different cognitive principles and constitute 2 modes of processing social information. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recherches sur la morphologie lexicale: Les transformations relatives au nombre.

Studied inflections relative to the number of common nouns in 2 recognition experiments based on models of morphological patterning. In Exp I the 3 processes of pluralization in French were employed in a list of 108 nouns. Ss were asked to recognize and recall singular and plural words on the basis of the phonetic-lexical endings. In Exp II the same nouns, number markers, and combinations were used with Ss being asked if they were the same, another form of the same word, or an entirely different word. Results were assessed by age and school level variables. It is concluded that short-term recall uses episodic memory function based on perception of characteristics, such as graphic or phonetic, of words presented, while number processing occurs at different processing levels. (English abstract) (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reexamination of the role of imagery in learning and memory.

Five experiments were conducted to examine whether the superior recall of concrete over abstract words might be better accounted for in terms of relative differences in the processing of relational and distinctive information rather than redundant verbal and imaginal memory codes. Concrete and abstract word pairs were presented in the standard paired-associated learning task or under conditions intended to affect the nature and extent of relational processing between pair members. Concreteness effects were attenuated or eliminated when relational processing was prevented at encoding (Experiments 3, 4, and 5) or when the use of encoded relations within pairs was prevented at recall (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). The results indicated the viability of an account of concreteness effects in paired-associate learning based on the joint functions of distinctive and relational information. They also remove theoretical constraints imposed on imagery theories by the incorrect assumption of a uniform presence of concreteness effects in memory for word lists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A common basis for recency effects in immediate and delayed recall.

Examined the effects of word frequency and list length on the long-term serial position curve in 2 experiments, using a total of 68 undergraduates. In Exp I, the object was to find a distractor activity that would be sufficient to eliminate the recency effect in conventional free recall. In Exp II, whether list length would show a similar pattern of effects in a continuous-distractor paradigm was examined. Results demonstrate that word frequency and list length had the same effects on the serial-position curve in the continuous-distractor paradigm of delayed recall that they had previously been shown to have in immediate recall. High word frequency and shorter lists led to improved recall of preterminal items but did not influence recall of terminal items. Results suggest that the same processes underlie recency effects in the 2 paradigms and that accounts that attribute recency effects to primary (or short-term) memory are inadequate. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repetition versus imagery instructions in the immediate- and delayed-retention of picture and word paired-associates.

22 undergraduates learned 2 paired-associate lists each consisting of 18 picture pairs and 18 word pairs. 1/2 of the items in each list were studied by repetition, the remainder by imagery. Recall improved from List 1 to List 2 on the immediate test but there was no difference in lists on retest 1 wk. later. On both immediate and delayed tests picture pairs were recalled better than word pairs and imagery study proved superior to repetition study. Informing Ss of their study method for each stimulus at time of recall did not affect performance. Results lend further support to the superiority of pictorial memory over verbal memory and provide evidence supporting an hypothesis that imagery study is a more efficient learning strategy than is repetition study. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in organization and recall: Training in the use of organizational techniques.

Used an alternating sort-recall procedure in 3 experiments to train 204 elementary school children in the use of organizational techniques as memory aids. All Ss sorted a group of words into 2–7 categories, and some Ss were required to learn the sorting patterns generated by adults. In Exp I, the semantic sophistication of a S's sorting style predicted recall performance. Further, the tendency to improve memory performance as a result of being constrained to adult sorting patterns varied with age; constrained 5th graders significantly improved their recall, whereas the recall of 3rd and 7th grade Ss was not affected by this training. However, more detailed organizational training in Exp II facilitated the recall of 3rd graders. In Exp II, it was found that the constraining procedure was not necessary for facilitation to be observed. Rather, instructions to group words on the basis of meaning were sufficient to produce improved recall. Further, improvements in sorting style accompanied all significant changes in recall. Findings are discussed in terms of a discrepancy between the information which a child has in permanent memory and that which he uses spontaneously in the context of a memorization task. The importance of input organization as a mediating factor in memory performance and development is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of study strategy in recall of mixed lists of common and rare words.

Experiment 1 confirmed previous findings that common words are more recallable than are rare words when the 2 kinds of words are presented in separate lists but not when they are presented in the same list. Experiment 2 showed much the same pattern when an orienting task was performed during word presentation. In Experiment 3 common words were found to be more recallable than rare words even for mixed lists when no warning was given of the memory test, although the effect was less pronounced than for pure lists. In Experiment 4 stronger measures were taken to preclude anticipation of the memory test, and the effect of word commonness was found to be just as pronounced with mixed lists as it was with pure lists. It was suggested that lists are studied in a way believed to optimize recall and that mixed lists foster a strategy of favoring the rare words. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists.

Two experiments (modeled after J. Deese's 1959 study) revealed remarkable levels of false recall and false recognition in a list learning paradigm. In Exp 1, Ss studied lists of 12 words (e.g., bed, rest, awake); each list was composed of associates of 1 nonpresented word (e.g., sleep). On immediate free recall tests, the nonpresented associates were recalled 40% of the time and were later recognized with high confidence. In Exp 2, a false recall rate of 55% was obtained with an expanded set of lists, and on a later recognition test, Ss produced false alarms to these items at a rate comparable to the hit rate. The act of recall enhanced later remembering of both studied and nonstudied material. The results reveal a powerful illusion of memory: People remember events that never happened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental and sociocultural aspects of imagery in the picture-word paired-associate learning of children.

Taught 128 middle-class Anglo-Americans and 128 lower socioeconomic Spanish-American children paired-associate lists in which pictures and orally presented words were learned as combinations of picture-picture, picture-word, word-picture, and word-word. Half of the Ss were placed in a recall test during learning trials and half in a recognition condition. One wk after original learning, the Ss were retested. Pictures in the stimulus position greatly facilitated learning, whereas pictures in the response term produced negative effects, but only in the recall condition. Pictures produced better long-term retention in both stimulus and response positions than did words. No significant differences between sociocultural groups in overall paired-associate performance appeared, but long-term retention was significantly better for Anglo Ss. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The distinctiveness of the word-length effect.

The authors report 2 experiments that compare the serial recall of pure lists of long words, pure lists of short words, and lists of long or short words containing just a single isolated word of a different length. In both experiments for pure lists, there was a substantial recall advantage for short words; the isolated words were recalled better than other words in the same list, and there was a reverse word-length effect: Isolated long words were recalled better than isolated short words. These results contradict models that seek to explain the word-length effect in terms of list-based accounts of rehearsal speed or in terms of item-based effects (such as difficulty of assembling items). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suffix interference in the recall of linguistically coherent speech.

In Exp 1, definitions of low-frequency words were presented for on-line written recall. Each definition was followed by a nonword speech suffix presented in the same voice as the definition, the same nonword presented in a different voice, or a tone. There was a significant reduction in the recall of the terminal words of the definitions in the speech suffix conditions compared with the tone control. This pattern was replicated in Exp 2, in which Ss did not begin their recall until the suffix item or tone was presented, although the magnitude of the suffix effect was reduced in this experiment. In Exp 3, the suffix effect was considerably reduced compared with the suffix effect found with the definitions presented in Exps 1 and 2. This pattern was replicated in Exp 4, in which Ss did not begin their recall of the story sentences until the speech suffix or tone was presented. Results suggest that auditory memory interference can take place for linguistically coherent speech, although the magnitude of the interference decreases as one increases the level of linguistic structure in the to-be-recalled materials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative strength as a mode of organization in recall and recognition: A comparison of schizophrenics and normals.

In 2 experiments, word pairs of high and low intrapair association were presented to a total of 40 schizophrenic and 40 normal adults. In Exp I, 1 member of each pair in both recall and recognition tasks was also displayed as a cue at the time of response. The number of words correctly recalled and recognized by both schizophrenics and normals was markedly greater for high-association lists. On high-association lists, schizophrenic performance was inferior to that of normals. The same lists were used in Exp II, which required the recognition of both words in each pair. Normal recognition was superior only for high-association lists. Results are interpreted as supporting the view that because schizophrenics did not subjectively organize or encode information when presented, subsequent retrieval was deficient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in memory as a function of imagery processing.

The effects of aging on imagery production and use (following the learning of concrete and abstract words) and their relations to subsequent memory performance were explored in 2 experiments. Both experiments demonstrated better free recall of concrete than of abstract words (the concreteness effect). Exp 1 showed this superiority to be greater for young Ss only under explicit imagery instructions. Exp 2 revealed that the advantage of concrete over abstract words reflects the use of differential imagery production. The results are discussed in terms of age differences in imagery utilization and the effects of visual processing on recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)