The effects of recognition and recall instructions on short-term and long-term retention of unfamiliar visual information

Abstract

The effect of temporal placement of instructions and processing demands on long- and short-term retention was studied using random visual patterns to minimize effects of verbal coding and prior learning. Long-term recognition was superior to long-term recall under the recognition but not the recall-demand condition. Errors in short-term memory perseverated across trials, and repetition enhancement of short-term recall accuracy (learning) occurred under a pre- but not a poststimulus instruction to recall, suggesting that temporal placement of recall instructions is critical to coding accuracy.