Memory as a Reconstructive Process

This experiment investigated the effects of subject-defined structure on the free recall of verbal material. Four separate groups of 15 subjects each sorted four different word lists into individually defined categories. Immediately after sorting, the subjects were unexpectedly asked for a free recall of these words. All subjects' recall outputs were organized in concord with their sorting categories. Over all subjects a number of common categories emerged. In addition, recall categories were found to be temporally distinct in individual recall records. The results were taken to support the view that memory is a reconstructive rather than an associative process when task constraints do not preclude the subject from using subject-defined organizational factors

Associative property · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Episodic memory · Explicit memory · Free recall · Recall · Recall test · Reconstructive memory · Serial position effect · Sorting · Subject (documents) · Task (project management) · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Mathematics · Memory Processes and Influences · Neuroscience · Psychology · Speech and dialogue systems

• Optimising episodic encoding within segmented virtual contexts

  Open Access•Matthew R Logie, David Donaldson et al.•Consciousness and Cognition•2025

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