Positive and negative part/whole transfer in free recall

Abstract

Three experiments examined the effects of simultaneous and successive presentation on part/whole transfer in free recall. In the first two experiments, Ss received six or eight trials on the part list. The observed absence of negative transfer under any presentation condition was attributed to the fact that part-list subjective organization did not increase over trials. In Experiment III Ss received 16 trials on both lists and the groups represented all possible combinations of simultaneous or successive presentation on part and whole lists. Part-list subjective organization increased with practice in all conditions. Negative part-to-whole transfer was observed only when both part and whole lists were presented successively, suggesting that learning strategies determine whether or not part-list organization will interfere with whole-list learning.