The prediction of recall patterns in simple active sentences

Abstract

The present experiment proposed to show that information about the recall properties of a stimulus sentence is contained in the sentence-associations it elicits. Eighty-seven Ss were presented 20 stimulus sentences, all grammatically equivalent to The small boy hit the ball, and were asked to give a grammatically identical sentence-association—the first sentence that comes to mind—for each. Another 40 Ss were asked to recall the same 20 stimulus sentences. The recall probability of the modifier, actor, verb, or object in each stimulus sentence was inversely related to the variability, measured by informational uncertainty U, of the words used as the corresponding sentence part in the sentence-associations to each stimulus sentence. In general, the actor was best recalled and had the least variability in the sentence-associations; the modifier and object were intermediate in these respects; the verb was least recalled and had the most variability. In addition, individual differences of the stimulus sentences in recall were predicted from the Us. Evidence of immediate constituents in the stimulus sentences was found in contingency measures among the modifier, actor, verb, and object both in recall and in the sentence-associations.