Master's Theses

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to examine the hypothesis that organization in rehearsal is a necessary condition for organization to be found in recall. In Experiment I, a continuous memory (CM) task was used to interfere with organized rehearsal as learners were forced to rehearse sequentially. In Experiment II, a serial recall procedure was used to limit organized rehearsal. Learners were partitioned into 6 groups. Half of the learners were given a categorized list (C), and half were given a list of unrelated (U) words. Within list conditions, one-third received a third trial output shift from serial-recall (SRS) to free-recall, one-third received a free-recall (FR) task, and one-third received a third trial output shift from free - recall (FRS) to serial-recall. In Experiment I and Experiment II respectively, organization in the recall of the continuous memory (CM) group and of the SRS-C group exceeded the expectations of a random model. Mean recall differences between groups in Experiment II were not significant except when contrasted with the FRS groups. The usual facilitation effect with categorized word lists (C) over unrelated word lists (U) was observed though this trend was much weaker than ex pee ted and reversed itself in the third trial output shift in the FRS groups. These results were interpreted as indicating that overt organized rehearsal is not a necessary condition for organized recall. Learners appeared to organize and recall at comparable levels regardless of the presence or absence of input constraints.

Keywords

Psychology

Advisor

Dr. Robert Markley

Date of Award

Summer 1977

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

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