Recall and Recognition as Measures of Immediate Memory

did show chat proverbs, disconnected words, and nonsense syllables were Inore easily recognized chan recalled. The main purpose of che presenc study is co compare, with both measures of recognition and recall, the immediate memory of digits, consonants, and high( H A S ) and low-association value nonsense syllables ( L A S ) . /Method.-Ss were 21 men and 27 women undergraduates tested individually within a 50-min. testing period. The stimulus materials were the digits from I to 9 , nine consonants (C, F, H, J, K, M, P, R, X ) , and nlne HAS ( B A W , FOS, HAN, JUR, KIP, LOY, NEV, PUD, RAF; association values 2 50%) and nine LAS (BOJ, DAX, FEP, LEB, NEM, RUV, TAZ, YED, ZUK; association values 5 27%) chosen from a recent revision of Hull's list (Trapp & Kausler, 1959) . Each S was tested on a single class of material at a time; order of presentation of materials followed a balanced Latin Square design. Immediate memory of the four classes of material was measured first by recall. then by recognition for half the Ss. This procedure was reversed for the remaining Ss. The measure of recall required S to reproduce in writing on his answer sheer the items he had heard and could remember. The measure of recognition required S to listen to a series of items, then a second series of items, and then to check on his answer sheet whether rhe second series were the same as the first. The second series was always composed of the same items as the first, but on one-half of the trials, rhe order of the items in the pair of series was different. The series of digits and consonants were from 4 to 1 0 elements in length; tPle series of syllables were from 3 to 9 elements in length. Two trials were given at each length of series, and the series were presented in order of increasing length. Testing on a particular dass of material was terminated when S missed both items at a particular length of series (e.g., when S failed to recall the t ~ o separate series of, say, six digits, or when S failed to recognize whether the two separate pairs of six digits were the same or different). Ss were familiarized with the consonants and syllables by allowing them to read separate lists of the appropriate, alphabeticallyarranged items for about 30 sec. before the tests of immediate memory were made. Ss were instructed to listen carefully to the materials, which were presented at a l/sec. rate via a tape recorder, and to not write the answer until signalled to do so. On all series of items of a particular length, the interval of time between the presentation of a stimulus and the signal to respond was the same for both recall and recognition. Intertrial intervals were as brief as possible, and before each trial, S was given a ready signal. Memory spans were computed for each S for each dass of material and each method of measurement by the procedure outlined by Woodworth and Schlosberg ( 1954) . Resu/l~ and discussion.-Latin square analyses of variance (Edwards, 1960, pp. 265-26s) were computed separately for each response measure on the memory span data. Results supporced earlier findings. Immediate memory

Arithmetic · Audiology · Cognitive psychology · Nonsense · Recall · Stimulus (psychology · Mathematics · Medicine · Memory Processes and Influences · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development · Writing and Handwriting Education

• Experimental psychology

  Edwin B Newman•Psychological Bulletin•1954

  Add to list