Evaluation of Experimenter-Supplied and Subject-Originated Descriptive-Story Mnemonics in a Free-Recall Task

Abstract

The effectiveness of a mnemonic technique as an aid to free recall is greatly influenced by whether or not the mnemonic scheme is E-supplied or S-originated. Kibler and Blick (1972) found that an E-supplied first-letter mnemonic technique excelled S-originated ones as an effective aid to free recall. In contrast, Bobrow and Bower (1969) using a paired-associate task and a mnemonic similar to the descriptive story found the S-originated scheme to be superior. The purpose of this present experiment was to compare the relative effectiveness of E-supplied and S-originated descriptive-story schemes in a free-recall verbal task. It was hypothesized that Ss who generated their own scheme would demonstrate better retention than Ss si~pplied a scheme. Ss were 58 members of two introductory psychology classes, and half of each class served in the E-supplied group and half served in the S-originated group. The verbal material to be learned by Ss consisted of the following 19 English nouns: abdomen, cholera, denim, desertion, destroyer, ensign, gully, humidity, indigo, jade, kale, mortar, pagoda, parrot, python, roach, shark, villa and watermelons. All Ss were given 10 min. to memorize the words using the descriptive-story mnemonic and then 2 min. to write down the words they had just memorized. The mean number of words correctly recalled by all Ss at the immediate, 2-day, l-wk., 6-wk., and 12-wk. retention intervals, respectively, was 18.00, 16.24, 15.96, 12.66, and 11.82 for the S-originated group; 17.93, 16.31, 16.24, 12.83, and 12.03 for the E-supplied group. The results did not support the hypothesis that Ss who generated their own descriptive-story scheme would demonstrate better retention than Ss supplied a descriptive-story scheme (F .05). The almost identical mean scores for the groups at each retention level are in marked opposition to the significant advantage Kibler and Blick ( 1972) found for the E-supplied group. Together the studies cited above suggest an interaction berween type of mnemonic aid and source-whether it is originated by E or S. The present study strengthens the suggesrion but it indicates that the interaction is not of the predicted magnitude.