Effects of Subject-Generated and Experimenter-Supplied Associations at Time of Storage on Free Recall of High and Low Verbal Associators

Abstract

Undergraduates were classified on the basis of the average number of associations they could produce in response to a standard set of verbal units (associative ability). 28 high and 28 low associators instructed to make an association (subject-generated) to each verbal unit (CVCVC) of a list of to-be-recalled units did not differ in recall. High associators supplied with an association (experimenter-supplied) to each verbal unit of the same list of to-be-recalled units recalled more units than high associators under the subject-generated condition; whereas, low associators supplied with an association to each verbal unit of the list recalled fewer units than low associators under the subject-generated condition. Short-latency high-meaningfulness associative reaction time units were recalled more frequently than long-latency high-meaningfulness units under the experimenter-supplied condition, results consistent with findings of previous studies.