Three experiments examined the immediate free recall (IFR) of auditory-verbal and visuospatial materials from single-modality and dual-modality lists. In Experiment 1, we presented participants with between 1 and 16 spoken words, with between 1 and 16 visuospatial dot locations, or with between 1 and 16 words "and" dots with synchronized…

The role of memory in behavioral distraction by auditory attentional capture was investigated: We examined whether capture is a product of the novelty of the capturing event (i.e., the absence of a recent memory for the event) or its violation of learned expectancies on the basis of a memory for an event structure. Attentional capture--indicated…

The buffer model proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin gives a valid measure of primary-memory capacity (i.e., the estimate is close to the true value), a property lacking in both the original Waugh and Norman method and Watkins' modifications of that method. (Author/PN)

The ability of preschool children to construct and reconstruct ordered sequences was examined in a series of four experiments. Subjects were 42 children aged 3 to 5 years. The conditions under which reconstruction of an arbitrary series of events is possible are described. (Author/GO)

In three experiments using a single-trial, free-recall procedure, subjects were sometimes presented a forget cue during a list, meaning that they were not responsible for recalling any of the words which preceded it, only those which followed it. Since the primacy effect over the functional beginning of such lists was not diminished, the proactive…

Some of the issues associated with the lack of a precisely stated theory of memory organization are considered. The first section provides an overview of the concept of organization. Emphasis is on problems associated with the definition of organization, especially the distinction between organization as a process and as the product of a process.…

Examines the effects of recall strategies on the serial position curve in immediate and delayed recall. (Author/RK)

This study examined the effect of presentation rate on accuracy of digit serial recall and on serial position curves of digit strings of different lengths with 18 boys classified as reading retarded and a comparison group of children (ages for both groups averaged 11 years) who read at grade level. The results indicated that normal children…

This study was designed to address two issues: "At what age do children spontaneously use a cumulative rehearsal strategy?" and "What effect does the use of the strategy have on their performance?" The subjects, 28 children at each of five grade levels (nursery, kindergarten, first, third, and fifth), were tested in a serial-position recall task.…

A series of studies indicated that performance on serial recognition memory tasks was relatively constant over a wide range of age and IQ, and except for response biases and forgetting rate, recognition memory processes of normal and retarded children appeared to be identical with those of adults. (Author/DR)

This study measured retention (after 5 and 10 years) of verbal material recited by a parent during infancy at stages of pre- and postsyllable differentiation. (GO)

A comparison was made of short- and long-term visual and auditory memory in relation to visual and auditory interference. The questions investigated were: (1) will interference be greater when it occurs in the same modality (auditory or visual) in which it was learned (i.e., similarity hypothesis), or (2) will interference be greater when it…

Purpose of experiment was to provide evidence for the role of contextual associations in memory for serial position because position judgments are affected by factors other than those correlated by time. (DS)