In response to the wide-scale proliferation of "the cone of learning"--a fanciful retention chart confounded with Dale's Cone of Experience--the authors make four major claims debunking this fantasy and provide documentary evidence to support these claims. The first claim is that the data in the mythical retention chart do not make…

Critics have been attempting to debunk the mythical retention chart at least since 1971. The earliest critics, David Curl and Frank Dwyer, were addressing just the retention data. Beginning around 2002, a new generation of critics has taken on the illegitimate combination of the retention chart and Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience--the corrupted…

The authors are attempting to set the record straight regarding the sources frequently cited in the literature of the mythical retention chart and the corrupted Dale's Cone. They point out citations that do not actually connect with relevant works; provide correct citations of sources that are often cited erroneously; add references for overlooked…

Sets of pairs for a multiple-item recognition (verbal discrimination) learning task varied in their number of presentations during a single extended study trial. The test phase required old-new and right-wrong (functional) identifications of individual items. Results suggest that recognition of prior wrong items are mediated by frequency cues…

The existence of verification processes in recognition memory was confirmed in the context of Adams' (Adams & Bray, 1970) closed-loop theory. Subjects' recognition was tested following a learning session. The expectation was that data would reveal consistent internal relationships supporting the position that natural language mediation plays…

Two experiments are reported in which recall of the same information is compared following different priming passages. In one case the subjects were primed by material that was consistent with the content of the main passage; in a second case, the priming introduced information in conflict with it. It was found that inconsistent priming led to…

Learning material was presented to independent groups of subjects either after arousal from non-Rapid Eye Movement (non-REM) sleep, after arousal from REM sleep, or under conditions of no prior sleep. Measures of immediate and subsequent free recall were taken. (Editor)

Past research has distinguished between two alternative representational systems that are used in perceptual learning--distinctive features and schemas. This study examines the influence of short-term memory on the initial utility of these systems and the influence of long-term memory on retention of these forms of learning. (Editor)

Attempts to develop an index that will provide a broader data base from which to determine the relative strengths of list items in memory. (Author/RK)

Investigates the effect of imagery ability upon performance in free recall and relates this effect to the distinction between primary and secondary memory. (Author/RK)

The goal of this epilogue is to use the methodological contributions of the studies presented in this special issue as a starting point for suggestions about methodology in conducting future interaction research. As is the case in most developing fields, interaction research develops methods internally as it continually borrows and extends…

To show how a subject's memory of previous responses and their outcomes affects responding, as in Buchwald's cognitive model, the subject in the present study had to recall his previous response and its outcome before choosing the correct response. (Editor/RK)

A technique that can be used to study the effects of low-level, rote, repetitive (Type I) rehearsal is introduced and validated. The technique is then used to investigate the relationship between the amount of Type I rehearsal and recognition memory performance. (Author/RM)

Four free-recall experiments are reported that investigate the relationship between the organization of rehearsal and the organization of recall. (Editor)