Coding, recoding, and decoding of hierarchical information in long-term memory

Abstract

Mandler's theory (1967, 1968) that information in memory is organized into hierarchical structures was tested in two experiments. The first study showed that S s given multitrial free recall of previously learned information containing an organizational hierarchy specified by E will gradually adopt this structure. In addition, this recoding process involves three stages: (a) the perception of the hierarchy of categories, (b) chunking within a subordinate category, and (c) the establishment of the hierarchical relationship between superordinate and subordinate categories. The development of this structure was shown to be both facilitated and accelerated by a problem-solving task stressing categorical relationships. The second experiment replicated the major finding concerning the development of hierarchical structures in long-term memory and demonstrated that the results could not be accounted for by an associative model.