The effects of intralist activity on free recall

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to determine the effects of S's intralist activity on free recall, and to relate these effects to a two-storage model of free recall. In the first experiment associative or mnemonic structure was varied. The freedom of the S to make use of the interval was also varied by requiring an interpolated task during the interval between words. Both variables had a clear effect on recall. No evidence was found, however, for a differential effect of these variables on the serial-position curve. The differential effect was expected on the basis of the two-storage model of recall. In the second experiment, an intralist task was used that, on the basis of the two-storage model, was designed to have a differential effect. Both an overall effect of the task (word repetition) and a differential effect with respect to list positions were found. When S repeated the list words as they were presented, he recalled fewer words and, in particular fewer words from the beginning of the list.