| Abstract: | Several studies have examined whether Ss who learn a list of words incidentally remember frequency as well as those who learn the words intentionally. Conflicting results have been found. This discrepancy is examined in the present 3 experiments with a total of 105 undergraduates. Results of Exps I and II indicate that intentional-learning Ss exhibited an advantage in memory for frequency only if the instructions emphasized the importance of good performance on the memory task. Results of Exp III show that intentionality influenced memory for frequency within a list of items and that a strategy that involved semantic processing led to improved frequency estimation. It is concluded that these results are inconsistent with formulations of the claim that frequency information is encoded automatically and demonstrate that instructions play a crucial mediating role in memory for frequency. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
