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Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to develop a clearer understanding of factors contributing to the failure to recognize recallable words because this phenomenon has important implications for theories of memory. The paradigm involves a sequence of tasks, including presentation of cue-target word-pairs, testing recognition, and prompted recall with the context cues serving as prompts. An important version of the recognition-failure paradigm includes a free-association task prior to testing recognition that results in subjects generating some of the target items and recognition distractors. This type of free-association task was examined in the current study. It produced problems of list differentiation (interference) that led to subjects' recognition errors and significant failure to recognize recallable words. Other important memory processes which contribute to this failure are discussed. These include generation effects during the free-association task, priming of target items on the recognition test, and associative asymmetry existing between items in the cue-target pairs.

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Memory Processes Influencing Recognition Failure of Recallable Words

Abstract

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References