The role of associative strength in the semantic relatedness effect on immediate serial recall

Abstract

The present study examined the effect of semantic relatedness on immediate serial recall. The type of semantic relatedness was manipulated by using lists of study items that are or are not from the same category (e.g., apple, banana, grape), and/or lists of study items that are or are not associated with each other (e.g., honey, sugar, sour). Whether the type of semantic relatedness was manipulated within or between participants, positive categorical and associative relatedness effects occurred in percent serial recall and negative categorical and associative relatedness effects occurred in order retention after the level of item recall was controlled. The R parameters, which were estimated by fitting Schweickert's (1993) multinomial processing tree model to the percent serial recall data, indicated a positive semantic relatedness effect on item redintegration. Regression analyses further showed that inter-item associative strength significantly predicts the percent serial recall after partialling out the effect of types of semantic relatedness or theme–item associative strength. Both Hulme et al.'s (1997) item redintegration theory and Stuart and Hulme's (2000) associative-link hypothesis are discussed.