Free recall of grouped words.

Abstract

Grouped and ungrouped lists were presented for free recall. Temporal grouping increased recall of only items presented at the end of the list, i.e., shortterm storage. Contrary to expectations, grouping did not improve long-term storage. The fact that grouping produced a stereotypic order of recall focused on recall order as a crucial factor in determining short-term recall.Grouping is interesting not only because it is used frequently as a mnemonic technique but also because it is intimately involved in speech in the form of intonation. Intonational groupings (created by pausing or accenting) play an important role in processing and remembering verbal stimuli (O'Connell, Turner, & Onuska, 1968). The purpose of the present series of studies was to elucidate the role of grouping in remembering words by using single-trial free recall. The U-shaped serial position curve obtained with free recall is viewed as a composite with recall for items from the end of the list being determined primarily by the state of the short-term store (STS) and recall for other items being determined by the long-term store (LTS) (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968;Glanzer, 1968;Waugh & Norman, 1965).Previous studies of rhythmic or temporal grouping have involved fixed-order recall of items such as numbers, letters, and nonsense syllables. Ryan (1967) reviewed these studies. However, fixed-order recall is in two ways a more complex task than free recall: (a) It requires order information; and (b) it requires a fixed order in recalling words. These factors make it 1 The author thanks both her sponsor, Murray Glanzer, and Doris Aaronson for extensive guidance and encouragement. Reinhilde Nelson was most helpful in testing 5s. This paper is based on a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree at New York University. While conducting this research the author was a National Institutes of Health predoctoral fellow (5 F01 MH40050).

The order of recall and the recall of order

“…(2) Otherwise, no major effects were The first experiment was carried out to see whether recall from STS could be improved by varying the order of recall. Much evidence (Gianutsos, 1970;Posner, 1964;Tulving & Arbuckle, 1963) exists to support the hypothesis that the amount a subject recalls depends on the order in which items are to be recalled. The contention is that the act of recalling old items has the effect of displacing information from STS in much the same manner that taking in additional list items does.…”

“…Temporal (rhythmical) grouping is such a procedure. Gianutsos (1972) showed that, when lists were presented in temporal groups of three words, words were recalled in order within the last two groups, starting With the last group, and the STS component was substantially increased. The present view is that techniques, such as temporal grouping or the present procedure, improve retrieval from STS and do not affect LTS.…”

“…Indeed, in Experiment I almost half of the free recall protocols began with the last word in the list. Interestingly, an improved retrieval scheme is adopted spontaneously by subjects given temporally grouped lists (Gianutsos, 1972). In this condition subjects recall the last temporally grouped items in order.…”

Contributions to the functional analysis of single-trial free recall.

“…Thus, any sublist primacy and recency effects could occur due to extra rehearsal of the first or last few items of each sublist (e.g., Gianutsos, 1972). To control for this possibility, subjects were instructed to rehearse out loud only the most recently presented set of five words during each 15-s delay period.…”

Explanations of grouping in immediate ordered recall

“…If inserting pauses into a presentation facilitates chunking or conjoining, then inserting pauses into a presentation should improve free recall. Instead, inserting pauses into a presentation does not improve free recall (Gianutsos, 1972).…”