Reducing retroactive interference: An interference analysis.

In 4 experiments on retroactive interference (RI), the authors varied paired-associate learning lists that produced either appreciable or negligible forgetting. When the category of the stimulus word predicted its response word category, and the response was relatively unique within its category, learning was extremely rapid, and negative transfer and RI were negligible. The more the competing primed items in the predicted response category, the slower the learning and the greater the RI. If cues and responses were unrelated, learning was very slow, and RI was appreciable. Thus, predictive relations that help stimuli retrieve unique responses greatly alter forgetting in RI paradigms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Forgetting in primed fragment completion.

Seven experiments examined the time course of primed fragment-completion performance. A pilot experiment and Experiment 1 showed that rapid forgetting occurs immediately after study for a period of approximately 5 min. The rate of this immediate forgetting is independent of the length of the list. Experiment 2 showed that priming effects were still present after 16 months. Experiments 3 and 4 provided further evidence of forgetting over 1 week. Experiment 5 showed that retention performance after 20 min is unaffected by the interpolated study and recall of other lists of words. Experiment 6 showed that 10-min retention performance was substantially reduced as list length was increased from 10 to 100 words; but it showed no evidence of intralist proactive interference. The combined results of the seven experiments illustrate some similarities and differences between forgetting in primed fragment completion and in episodic memory tasks such as recall and recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What kind of a hypothesis is the distinction between episodic and semantic memory?

Responds to comments by G. McKoon et al (see record 1986-19143-001) regarding the present author's (1983; also see record 1985-03110-001) claims of a distinction between semantic and episodic memory by asserting that the hypothetico-deductive method of testing theories advocated by McKoon et al is not an appropriate procedure for evaluating the validity of classification according to learning and memory phenomena and processes. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Charles Roger Myers (1906-1985).

Presents an obituary for Charles Roger Myers, who died in Toronto on June 5, 1985. Roger Myers shared the distinction of being one of the first two psychology internes employed by the Ontario Hospital Service. He served as the first Consulting Psychologist for the Ontario Department of Health from 1930 to 1963. He was the first person in charge of research at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital before World War II. He was a founding member of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1940, its secretary, its president (1950-1951), its first executive officer (1970-1978) and its archivist. He was a man who left as his ultimate legacy a strong, vigorous, and unified department that strives to contribute to the creation and dissemination of psychological knowledge not only in Canada but in the world. In all of these ways his life has touched thousands of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Glenn Ewen MacDonald 1925-1978.

Presents an obituary for Glenn Ewen MacDonald, who died on July 24, 1978. Dr. MacDonald was a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, where he spent nearly half of his life teaching. Beside his teaching, research, and administrative duties at the University, he served as both Vice-President and President of the Ontario Educational Research Council, was one of the founders and President of the Ontario Council of Academic Psychologists, and helped to found and was the first Chairman of the Experimental Division of the Canadian Psychological Association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the nature of the Tulving-Wiseman function.

The reality of the Tulving-Wiseman function (E. Tulving and S. Wiseman, 1975) that describes the outcomes of a large number of recognition-failure experiments has been called into question by D. L. Hintzman (see record 1992-41816-001), who has argued on formal grounds that the function emerges because of mathematical constraints on the maximum possible values of recognition conditionalized on recall. Hintzman's claim is shown to be contrary to empirical facts. Data from a large number of experiments and experimental conditions in which recognition is equal to or exceeds recall (conditions that are not subject to mathematical constraints discussed by Hintzman) adhere closely to the Tulving-Wiseman function, suggesting that the function is psychologically real. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)