Free recall of taxonomically and alphabetically organized word lists as a function of storage and retrieval cues

Abstract

After a grouping pretest, 128 S s each learned a 40-word free-recall (FR) list containing 5 words representing each of 8 taxonomic categories and beginning with each of 8 first letters, followed by additional recall and transfer tests. Taxonomic cues and blocking both facilitated FR performance and categorical clustering, whereas both first-letter cues and blocking impaired FR performance but produced less alphabetical than categorical clustering. Taxonomic cues on a final cued test trial produced enhanced FR performance, but letter cues thereupon produced substantial FR losses. Besides demonstrating a marked superiority of categorical over alphabetical bases for FR organization, these results also indicate the necessity of appropriate storage for effective coding and FR retrieval, and argue against independent storage of individual items.