A new theory for the dynamics of trace susceptibility to storage loss is developed and tested. According to the trace susceptibility theory, storage loss occurs when a critical feature for the support of recall is no longer bound to the other features of the trace. The storage loss occurs because of the retroactive influence of other traces, and the storage retention function is precisely characterized by an underlying Weibull distribution. Predictions of the trace susceptibility theory were tested against predictions of a multistore model. The results support the trace susceptibility theory. Finally, the relation between the trace susceptibility theory and proactive interference effects was developed.
In a series of studies, generation effects were obtained under encoding conditions designed to induce incongruous, unrelated item generation. Experiments 1 and 2, using free- and cued-recall measures, respectively, provided evidence that this unrelated generation effect was due to response-specific processing. Experiment 3 demonstrated a lack of relation between free recall and indices of clustering. A preliminary protocol study suggested that Ss generate multiple items in their search for appropriate unrelated responses. In Experiments 4 and 5, conditions designed to produce more extensive multiple generations demonstrated enhanced free recall. These results supported a multiple-cue account of facilitated recall for incongruous item generation. The multiple-cue perspective is consistent with traditional conceptualizations of memory, such as the principle of congruity, and contemporary distinctions between cue-target relational and item-specific processing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.