The generation effect involves an improvement in memory when learners must complete or modify materials. Several researchers have suggested that this effect involves enhanced access to learners' existing memory representations; therefore, the effect should be less effective with meaningless, low meaningful, or unfamiliar material. In the present study, the authors conducted 4 experiments in which legal nonwords were used, and they found no generation effect. In another 2 experiments in which familiar clichés were contrasted with new sentences and with unfamiliar sentences from textbooks, the results showed a greatly reduced generation effect for the new, unfamiliar material. Those findings suggest that memory strategies that depend on the generation effect will have limited effectiveness when they are applied to new or unfamiliar material.

A naturalistic study of spatial memory having temporary utility was conducted using 32 faculty and staff of a university, who park in non-reserved parlking spaces, as subjects. The subjects, who were unaware of the study until interviewed, were asked to indicate on a map the exact location where they had parked their car on that day and on each of the three preceding days. Whereas retention accuracy decreased significantly across days, the recency effect was weak and overall retention proved to be very accurate. Of the subjects who varied their parking location, 88 per cent were able to indicate within three spaces where they parked on the day of the interview, and 58 per cent on the mosit remote day. Younger females made significantly larger retention errors across the four days than older females and younger and older males. Subjects' overall retention accuracy correlated with their overall confidence in their recollections (r = .72). Daily ratings of 'how busy on the job', reported times left campus each day, parking location variability, particular parking lot used, and number of parking spaces in the distinct locations used were not significantly correlated with retention errors. In follow-up interviews, subjects reported preferring a behavioural, 'park in a favourite spot' strategy, with several types of imagery-based cognitive strategies being cited less frequently, and verbal encoding being the least often cited strategy.In the last two decades researchers from diverse disciplines have gathered a great deal of information about how humans acquire the organization of an environment and how they use this information. People progress through a series of stages in their awareness of details of a complex territory (Siegel, Kirasic, and Kail, 1978;Siegel and White, 1975), progressing from an early emphasis on a few landmarks to a complex configurational representation as a result of their continuing operation in that environment. Thorndyke and Hayes-Roth (1982) demonstrated a similar pattern in the learning of maps.Several investigators have shown that people use different strategies in order to learn spatial relationships, and that these strategies are not equally effective (Bartram and Smith, 1984;Dale, 1987;Hirtle and Mascolo, 1986;Pezdek and Evans, 1977;Thorndyke and Stasz, 1980). These strategies involve both visual imagery mechanisms, such as noting the configuration and distinctive details of objects and the spatial relationships between objects, and verbal mechanisms, such as labelling objects or describing spatial relationships verbally (Schwartz and Kulhavy, 1988;Schwartz and Phillippe, 1991;Thorndyke and Stasz, 1980). People seem to differ relatively little in their use of verbal strategies, especially relying on verbal descriptions and labelling when studying maps. However, people show more variability in their use of visual or spatial strategies, especially when learning spatial relationships from

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Three-category dual level, three-category single level, and six-category single level word lists were presented for single trial free recall to 18 normals and 18 schizophrenics in remission. Schizophrenic recall was significantly inferior to that of normals across all three lists. Normals produced more clustering than schizophrenics, but the difference was not significant. Across both groups, the three-category dual level list produced significantly more recall than the other two lists. The three-category dual level list and the three-category single level list produced significantly more clustering than the six-category single level list. The results were interpreted as indicating that the schizophrenic's memory structure is similar to that of normals. It is suggested that the schizophrenic's recall deficit is not due to a lack of structure, or an inappropriate structure, but rather to a lessened tendency to utilize such structure.

The recall of automobile parking location was assessed over five consecutive workdays. Completed data from 36 women and 19 men provided measures of accuracy and a survey of specific strategies. Analysis showed a significant recency effect with memory for the most recent parking locations being superior. Less variation in parking location and shorter distance from parking location to building entrance were associated with better recall. Contrary to prevalent belief, older subjects had more accurate recall. Older subjects parked closer to the entrance and used fewer spaces which were also located closer together. The most frequently reported strategy was "favorite location" which was used more often by older subjects. Whereas laboratory tasks show memory deficits with increasing age, some studies in the natural environment have exhibited less such decline; the current data showed an actual improvement. It may be that older people adopt and practice compensatory strategies in the natural environment while laboratory tasks give little opportunity for establishing or practicing such devices.