The Effects of Isolation and Articulation on Response-Term Recall

Abstract

The 120 subjects were given one study trial on a paired-associate list in which a response term for one of the pairs was isolated for half the subjects; for the remaining subjects, none of the response terms was isolated. During the study trial, half the subjects in each treatment articulated all response terms; the rest articulated none. On the test of free recall of the response terms, the isolated response term occurred more often than its nonisolated counterpart [p < .001], independent of whether it had been articulated. Response-term articulation facilitated response-term recall [p < .01]. It is suggested (a) that response-term isolation facilitates paired-associate learning by enhancing both response recall and associative learning and (b) that response-term articulation also enhances response recall but interferes with associative learning.