Effects of Inter- and Intratrial Similarity in Short-Term Memory

Abstract

Item similarity was investigated in a short-term memory experiment using a 2 × 2 factorial design in which similarity was varied either within a trial (intratrial) or between trials (intertrial). For the intratrial conditions, items were taken from the same taxonomic category or from different categories. Likewise, for the intertrial similarity conditions, items were taken from the same category between trials or from different categories. The results indicated an interaction between conditions of inter- and intratrial similarity. For the intratrial conditions, items from the same category were recalled better than items from different categories, but for the conditions of intertrial similarity items from different categories resulted in better recall than items from the same categories.