Conditions and consequences of maintenance rehearsal.

Abstract

The present experiments investigated the idea that the anticipated delay to initial recall governs whether a subject will rely on elaborative or maintenance rehearsal. In agreement with earlier research, the results suggested that maintenance rehearsal is used only when words can be rehearsed up to the moment of recall. A novel finding concerned the accessibility of the items processed in that way. When subjects were explicitly asked to recall those items first in final free recall, they were as likely to be recalled as items that had been processed elaboratively. This finding suggests that even rote rehearsal creates an accessible memory trace, albeit one that is most efficiently accessed by contextual rather than semantic cues.Following the introduction of the levels of processing framework, one prominent line of research investigated the effects of various orienting tasks on delayed memory performance (Craik & Lockhart, 1972;Craik & Tulving, 1975). The typical finding from this literature was that tasks involving semantic analysis lead to better recall of words than tasks involving structural or phonemic analyses (Lewandowsky & Hockley, 1987). A second line of research fostered by the levels of processing framework investigated the conditions under which subjects will naturally rely on different levels of processing when they are attempting to memorize a list of words. The central question addressed in this literature is whether subjects choose to devote semantic (or elaborative) rehearsal to some words and simple rote (or maintenance) rehearsal to others. Indeed, as described below, dynamic shifts in rehearsal strategy appear to be the norm. The experiments described herein were intended to further advance this line of inquiry, with particular emphasis on the conditions giving rise to and the enduring consequences of maintenance rehearsal.Most of the research on the issue of rehearsal strategy is consistent with the idea that subjects use some form of elaborative rehearsal unless it is clear that the items being rehearsed can be maintained indefinitely (i.e., up to the moment of recall). When that condition obtains, elaborative strategies are essentially superfluous and may be abandoned in favor of simple maintenance rehearsal (Gotz & Jacoby, 1974;Jacoby & Bartz, 1972;Meunier, Ritz, & Meunier, 1972;Roenker, 1974;Watkins & Watkins, 1974). In a standard list memory procedure, the initial items of a list cannot be rehearsed indefinitely because of the incoming stream of subsequent items. Thus, the initial items would seem to be the most likely candidates for elaborative rehearsal. The last few items of a list, on the other hand, can be rehearsed unencumbered until the recall period begins just a few moments later. As a result, these items would seem to be the most likely candidates for I would like to express thanks to Heidi Squire, Julie Baroway, Paul Havig, and Barbara Schneider for their assistance in data collection, and Robert Greene, Mark McDaniel, and Vito Modigliani for their thoughtful commentaries on ...

Temporal clustering and sequencing in short-term memory and episodic memory.

“…Many studies have observed that so-called elaborative rehearsal can be beneficial to performance, with the suggestion that this is more evident when participants anticipate having to recall that information after a delay (e.g., Craik & Watkins, 1973;Wixted, 1991;Wixted & McDowell, 1989). Many studies have observed that so-called elaborative rehearsal can be beneficial to performance, with the suggestion that this is more evident when participants anticipate having to recall that information after a delay (e.g., Craik & Watkins, 1973;Wixted, 1991;Wixted & McDowell, 1989).…”

“…Many studies have observed that so-called elaborative rehearsal can be beneficial to performance, with the suggestion that this is more evident when participants anticipate having to recall that information after a delay (e.g., Craik & Watkins, 1973;Wixted, 1991;Wixted & McDowell, 1989). More generally, the finding that participants show little long-term benefit from rehearsal when retdeval is expected immediately (Craik & Watkins, 1973;Wixted, 1991) could be explained by participants selectively failing to learn about the group context for that information (thus reducing the retroactive and proactive interference at the group level when attempting to retrieve other information from the same list). In addition, the reduced output leaming assumed for the last group in a list (the parameter TI°"J) could explain the poor long-term recall of recency items despite the benefits of rehearsal to their initial recall (Wixted & McDowell, 1989).…”

Enhanced Memory for Negatively Emotionally Charged Pictures Without Selective Rumination.

“…Heuer and Reisberg (1990) compared the effects of instructions to memorize slides with the effects of an emotional context produced by an accompanying narration. Whereas instructions to memorize enhanced memory, they enhanced memory for central plot 1 The term rumination is used here in preference to the more commonly used term, rehearsal, because studies have shown that increased rehearsal time per se does not generally enhance subsequent recall (Craik & Watkins, 1973;Wixted, 1991). On the other hand, retrieving a memory that is not already in working memory has a substantial effect (e.g., Allen, Mahler, & Estes, 1969;Carrier & Pashler, 1992;Izawa, 1970), as does elaboration (Craik & Watkins, 1973).…”

Performances de mémorisation en fonction de la modalité d'encodage au cours des 24 heures chez des travailleurs postés

“…Ces données chronopsychologiques sont à rapprocher des études expérimentales portant sur la mémorisation de listes de mots. Ainsi, de nombreuses recherches (Craik & Lockhard, 1972 ;Greene, 1987 ;Rundus, 1977 ;Wixted, 1991) tendent à montrer que les sujets débutent l'apprentissage d'une liste de mots en employant des processus de répétition élaborée, ceux-ci faisant place, en cours de liste, à des processus de répétition subvocale plus automatique pour les derniers items présentés.…”