Eight sentences with high associative connections between their major elements (hi-m sentences) were generated from the Michigan Restricted Association Norms (Riegel, 1965a, b). Eight additional sentences with no or low association connections (lo-m sentences) were derived from the hi-m sentences by a scrambling procedure. All sentences were of…

The effect of a classification, or encoding, task on intentional free recall was examined. Examination of the serial position curves for immediate and free recall shows clear effects assigned to long-term store. Consideration of effects regarding levels of processing gives a parallel account differing only in terminology and emphasis. (CHK)

The short-term recall of word-triads was tested, comparing retention over three types of intervals within 24 preschoolers. Results suggest that the condition effect in short-term recall did not disrupt the long-term storage of the items. (Author/CS)

It was predicted that two variables would influence recognition memory for complex visual stimuli: association values, and the realistic-abstract dimension, or "objectivity". The stimuli were 12 reproductions of realistic paintings (clearly representing real world objects), six of high association value and six of low; and 12 abstract pictures,…

Previous research has shown that concrete concepts are more readily attained than abstract concepts. In the present study this dominance effect was confirmed for verbal materials, even when instances and concepts were equivalent in instance frequency, meaningfulness and conjoint frequency. This effect was especially marked under high memory-load…

Younger (n=58) and older (n=49) adults completed the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test and recall tests of verbal and visual stimuli with maximum and minimum semantic support. Category support did not help young adults who exercised less. Older adults' exercise had no effect on use of category support; less-frequent exercisers had poorer results…

A meta-analysis was conducted of 22 studies in which verbal stimuli were used as targets in episodic memory tasks. Of the 24 comparisons, 21 supported the hypothesis that these tasks require self-initiated operations and display a gradation of age-related deficits. (SK)

Performance changes during the course of single-trial free recall were investigated in five experiments. (Author/RM)

Dichotic presentation involves the auditory presentation of different verbal messages simultaneously. Investigations involving repetition effects on this process are discussed. (Author/RY)

Two experiments investigated whether poor readers eventually establish a dichotic right ear advantage as predicted by a maturational lag theory. The first studied developmental differences in dichotic listening for normal and poor readers when the order of reporting simultaneously presented items was unconstrained; the second controlled for order…

Many theories of memory assume memory representations are abstract and exclude specific lexical information. Results of three experiments in this study suggest lexical information is present and persists in memory representations of meaning. A word-based theory of memory should be preferred over available theoretical alternatives. (CHK)

This study tested predictions from Clark and Haviland's formalization of what people do when integrating information. Subjects were presented with simple sentences issued from a set of complex ideas, and asked to reconstruct the complete ideas. Results support predictions based on a recoding strategy formalized by Clark and Haviland. (CHK)

Like all probabilistic decisions, recognition memory judgments are based on inferences about the strength and quality of stimulus familiarity. In recent articles, B. W. A. Whittlesea and J. Leboe (2000; J. Leboe & B. W. A. Whittlesea, 2002) proposed that such memory decisions entail various heuristics, similar to well-known heuristics in overt…

Recognition memory performances of preschool children were compared in nine combinations of visual-only, verbal-only, and combined visual-verbal presentation test conditions. Subjects generally performed at a high level of correct responding. Verbal-only presentation resulted in less correct recognition than did either visual-only or combined…

Results indicated that individual differences in learning ability cannot be accounted for in terms of individual differences in short-term memory. (Authors)