| Abstract: | Most theories suppose that during unconstrained retrieval easy-to-retrieve items will be accessed before hard-to-retrieve items. Recent free-recall studies have supported a different access order, the cognitive triage pattern, in which hard-to-retrieve items are accessed first. The present experiments demonstrated that this pattern enhances total recall. In Exps 1–3, clustering type measures of goodness of triage (grouping output according to items' levels of retrievability) predicted total recall in children and adults. In Exps 4 and 5, goodness-of-triage measures predicted total recall when they were derived from on-line information about retrievability (error–success histories), but not when they were derived from normative information about retrievability (frequency and meaningfulness ratings). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
