Negative effects of using list items as recall cues

Abstract

It is proposed that recall of an item from a free recall list interferes with subsequent retrieval of other list items. Experiments by Slamecka (Journal of Experimental Psychology 1968, 76, 504–513) showing that providing part of a free recall list at the time of test impaired recall of the remaining list items illustrate this effect. Two experiments were performed examining the decrement in recall resulting from providing various numbers of list items to the subject at the time of test. Both studies found a negative relationship between the number of items given and the recall probability of the remaining list items. A model combining a general organizational structure of memory with a retrieval process and a rule for terminating recall is proposed and the way in which this model accounts for the obtained data is described.