TESTING FOR ASSOCIATIVE STORAGE IN MULTITRIAL FREE RECALL

Exp. I had 3 alternate training and test trials of written free recall of 30 words presented in fixed order. On the 3rd test trial, the random condition had 16 of these words on the recall sheet in random prder. The serial condition had the same words listed in order of presentation, with Xs indicating the missing critical items. Controls had blank recall sheets throughout. Final critical item recall were equivalent under all conditions. Exp. II had specific instructions about the nature of the final test. Final critical item recalls of both context conditions were inferior to the control because of the loss of previously recalled words between Trials 2 and 3. Since context did not aid recall, it was concluded that items were probably not stored associatively, but that they might be stored independently. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.