The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether supplying Ss with a mnemonic device produced a differential retention effect as opposed to letting Ss originate their own device when using a first-letter mnemonic technique in a free-recall situation. No difference in the recall of a list of 19 nouns existed at the immediate retention test, but Ss with an E-supplied scheme showed significantly better recall than those with S-originated schemes at 1-day, 1-wk., and 4-wk. retention intervals. It was concluded that the E-supplied first-letter mnemonic excelled S-originated ones as an effective aid to free recall.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BuckK. A.WaiteC. J.A survey of mnemonic techniques used by college students in free-recall learning. Psychological Reports, 1971, 29, 76–78.
2.
BobrowS. A.BowerG. H.Comprehension and recall of sentences. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 80, 455–461.
3.
BoltwoodC. E.BuckK. A.The delineation and application of three mnemonic techniques. Psychonomic Science, 1970, 20, 339–341.
4.
CohenB. H.BousfieldW. A.WhitmarshG. A.Cultural norms for verbal items in 43 categories. Technical Report No. 22, 1957, Univer. of Conn.
5.
FreundJ. A.UnderwoodB. J.Storage and retrieval cues in free-recall learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 81, 49–53.
6.
LiebermanL. R.WaltersW. M.Jr.CoxW. M.Experimenter-made vs subject-made mnemonics in paired-associate learning. Psychological Reports, 1968, 22, 227–231.
7.
PashJ. R.BlickK. A.The effect of a mnemonic device on retention of verbal material. Psychonomic Science, 1970, 19, 203–204.
8.
RobertsW. A.Alphabetic coding and individual differences in modes of organization in free-recall learning. American Journal of Psychology, 1968, 81, 433–438.
9.
ThorndikeE. L.LorgeI.The teacher's word book of 30,000 words. New York: Bur. of Publ, Teachers Coll., Columbia Univer., 1944.
10.
WaiteC. J.BlickK. A.BoltwoodC. E.Prior usage of the first-letter technique. Psychological Reports, 1971, 29, 630.
