Review Effects of Inserted Questions on Learning from                Prose

Two experiments were performed to determine whether questions inserted after prose passages initiate a review which substantially facilitates retention of the information in memory. Students listened to five prose passages, and immediately after each were asked to verify either a true inference drawn from the passage or a false statement. Subsequent free-recall data, collected under both incidental and intentional learning instructions, demonstrated the existence of a review effect (true-probed passage recall exceeded false-probe recall) and indicated selective strengthening of those relations related to the probe. When students listened to the passages and were then given the inferences exclusively as retrieval cues at the time of recall, the effect disappeared. This suggests that the backward review effect can not be attributed solely, or even substantially, to a cueing or retrieval phenomenon but rather to a strengthening or integration of the memory traces at the time of the probe.

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Children's Free Recall and Clustering Related to List-Task Organization, Instruction to Learn and Presentation Rate

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1978.43.3f.1139 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 43 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1139-1148

Author(s):

Claire B. Ernhart ◽

Sybil B. Licht ◽

Annette Kowalski ◽

Lynne S. Carman

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Incidental Learning ◽

Presentation Rate ◽

Fifth Grade ◽

School Age Children ◽

Intentional Learning ◽

Recall Data ◽

Slow Presentation ◽

Clustering Data ◽

And Task

Free recall of 144 fifth grade children given a handwriting orienting task was improved by instruction to learn as opposed to incidental instruction and by slower presentation rate. Active taxonomic categorization surpassed passive writing of the same clustering list, which, in turn, surpassed writing of a nonclusterable list. Interactions were not significant although increased time tended to facilitate intentional more than incidental learning. In Exp. 2 using 72 children in Grades 3 and 6, the categorizing task was superior to blocked presentation, which, in turn, surpassed random presentation of the clusterable list. Clustering data did not parallel recall data, being influenced by list organization rather than by categorization. Clustering increased under slow presentation for incidental but not for intentional learning. The over-all results indicate that school-age children can improve learning under instruction and can benefit from changes in list and task, but that their own organization (clustering) is fortuitous to recall.

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Retrieval Cuing with Organized Concrete and Abstract Information

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1978.46.3.763 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 763-768 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Werner Wippich

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Organizational Structure ◽

Intentional Learning ◽

Part List ◽

Retrieval Cues ◽

Concreteness Effect ◽

Abstract Nouns

36 concrete and 36 abstract nouns were sorted into 12 subjectively defined categories. In a 2 × 2 design there was a strong effect for concreteness in the free-recall of the previously organized materials under conditions of incidental as well as intentional learning. Part-list retrieval cues did not diminish the concreteness effect. The inefficiency of part-list retrieval cues with organized abstract materials was unexpected and is attributed to a deficient organizational structure.

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Limitations to the Spacing Effect

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.52.4.257 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 257-263 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Peter P. J. L. Verkoeijen ◽

Remy M. J. P. Rikers ◽

Henk G. Schmidt

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Phase Retrieval ◽

Incidental Learning ◽

Factor Model ◽

Recall Performance ◽

Spacing Effect ◽

Word List ◽

Intentional Learning ◽

Study Phase ◽

Learning Condition

Abstract. The spacing effect refers to the finding that memory for repeated items improves when the interrepetition interval increases. To explain the spacing effect in free-recall tasks, a two-factor model has been put forward that combines mechanisms of contextual variability and study-phase retrieval (e.g., Raaijmakers, 2003 ; Verkoeijen, Rikers, & Schmidt, 2004 ). An important, yet untested, implication of this model is that free recall of repetitions should follow an inverted u-shaped relationship with interrepetition spacing. To demonstrate the suggested relationship an experiment was conducted. Participants studied a word list, consisting of items repeated at different interrepetition intervals, either under incidental or under intentional learning instructions. Subsequently, participants received a free-recall test. The results revealed an inverted u-shaped relationship between free recall and interrepetition spacing in both the incidental-learning condition and the intentional-learning condition. Moreover, for intentionally learned repetitions, the maximum free-recall performance was located at a longer interrepetition interval than for incidentally learned repetitions. These findings are interpreted in terms of the two-factor model of spacing effects in free-recall tasks.

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Articulatory Rehearsal Is More Than Refreshing Memory Traces

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000179 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 131-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ryoji Nishiyama ◽

Jun Ukita

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Recall Performance ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Verbal Information ◽

Free Recall Task ◽

Study Item ◽

Phonological Representations ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Short Period ◽

Serial Position Curves

This study examined whether additional articulatory rehearsal induced temporary durability of phonological representations, using a 10-s delayed nonword free recall task. Three experiments demonstrated that cumulative rehearsal between the offset of the last study item and the start of the filled delay (Experiments 1 and 3) and a fixed rehearsal of the immediate item during the subsequent interstimulus interval (Experiments 2 and 3) improved free recall performance. These results suggest that an additional rehearsal helps to stabilize phonological representations for a short period. Furthermore, the analyses of serial position curves suggested that the frequency of the articulation affected the durability of the phonological representation. The significance of these findings as clues of the mechanism maintaining verbal information (i.e., verbal working memory) is discussed.

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Free recall measures of short-term store: Are rehearsal and order of recall data necessary?

Memory & Cognition ◽

10.3758/bf03198231 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 3 (6) ◽

pp. 653-662 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Delbert A. Brodie

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Short Term ◽

Recall Data

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Quite ordinary retrieval cues may determine free recall of actions

Journal of Memory and Language ◽

10.1016/s0749-596x(02)00517-x ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 399-415 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Melanie C. Steffens ◽

Axel Buchner ◽

Karl Friedrich Wender

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Retrieval Cues

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Selective remembering: Cue overlap enables pre-retrieval control of recollection

10.1101/2021.04.05.438462 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Arianna Moccia ◽

Alexa M. Morcom

Keyword(s):

Behavioral Control ◽

Working Memory Capacity ◽

High Capacity ◽

Event Related Potentials ◽

Retrieval Cues ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Memory Traces ◽

Wide Range ◽

Related Potentials ◽

Past Experiences

AbstractPeople often want to recall only currently relevant events, but this selective remembering is not always possible. We contrasted two candidate mechanisms: the overlap between retrieval cues and stored memory traces, and the ease of recollection. In two preregistered experiments (Ns = 28) we quantified recollection of targeted over non-targeted information using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants viewed objects or heard object names, and one of these sources was designated as targets in each memory test. We manipulated cue overlap by probing memory with visual names (Experiment 1) or line drawings (Experiment 2). Results revealed that regardless of which source was targeted, the left parietal ERP effect was selective when test cues overlapped more with targeted than non-targeted information, despite consistently better memory for pictures. The data support the view that selection can act prior to recollection if there is sufficient overlap between retrieval cues and targeted versus competing memory traces.Statement of relevanceThe ability to select relevant over irrelevant information from memory allows us to draw effectively on our past experiences. This ability is critical for behavioral control in a wide range of tasks and may account for reduced control in different populations. For example, people with lower working memory capacity and younger adults remember less selectively than those with high capacity and older adults. External cues like photographs can be strong memory triggers, but relatively little is known about how cues interact with our goals to select what is remembered. One priority is establishing that this selection acts prior to the point of retrieval, rather than post-retrieval. Cognitive control is assumed to act at both stages, but they are difficult to separate using behavioral measures alone. Here, we used electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs) to show that cue overlap enables selection prior to recollection, as predicted by the encoding specificity principle.

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MICRO-DYNAMIC ASSOCIATED WITH TWO-STATE NONLINEAR MARKOV PROCESSES: WITH AN APPLICATION TO FREE RECALL

Fluctuation and Noise Letters ◽

10.1142/s0219477511000387 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 10 (01) ◽

pp. 41-58 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

T. D. FRANK ◽

T. RHODES

Keyword(s):

Free Recall ◽

Markov Processes ◽

Dynamic Models ◽

Mean Field ◽

Variational Calculus ◽

State Model ◽

Recall Data ◽

Nonlinear Markov Processes ◽

Many Body Systems ◽

Two State Model

We examine the relationship between time-discrete nonlinear Markov processes defined in terms of nonlinear Markov chains and corresponding micro-dynamic models describing many-body systems composed of a finite number of units interacting with each other via a mean field. To this end, we consider a two-state model and examine appropriately defined measures for attractor strength and noise amplitude using variational calculus. We focus on a two-state model and demonstrate an application to free recall data from 8 participants.

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