Immediate and long‐term retention of connected concrete discourse as a function of mnemonic picture‐type sequence and context

Abstract

Abstract.— Two stories each containing 30 sentences of connected, concrete discourse were presented with or without an illustrating picture preceding each sentence, and with or without within‐story context. Immediate paced recall with pictures or empty frames was demanded. With the with‐context material, paced recall and free recall was also studied after the lapse of one year. Storey 1 was made according to the en‐route mnemonic scheme and story 2 according to the within‐a‐building scheme. On immediate recall pictures as well as context had a strong positive effect. There was no interaction between pictures and context., which may be interpreted to mean that these factors may be intrapsychically identical. Recall after one year was generally poor, but indicated that the en‐route mnemonic scheme may be more effective in long‐term memory. Very little reconstruction from the pictures seems to have taken place.