In two experiments using the Brown-Peterson memory paradigm, instructions to guess had small effects on recall, but sizeable effects on incidence of prior list intrustion. However, results indicate that proactive interference is primarily the result of inability to generate correct items, rather than confusion between present and previous items.…

In two experiments on free and cued recall, spacing between categorically related items, presentation rate and category size were varied and the effects on recall of items as a function of their serial order were studied. Results suggest subjects organize material during acquisition by retrieving and rehearsing previously studied items. (CHK)

One hundred forty-four subjects received 4 Brown-Peterson trials with recall triads from a common encoding category. Items on three trials were from a common subset, while on the fourth, the subset was shifted or not, and a cue was presented or not. The cue influenced response generation, a shift improved recall. (CHK)

This research project investigated some of the characteristics of primary and secondary memory. In the primary research, subjects were given a list of words followed by an interpolated task. The data of interest were the recall for terminal items in the list. Using this procedure, the researchers have demonstrated negative recency in initial…