Variation of Inter-Item Associative Strength and Some Measures of Free Recall

Abstract

Three groups of 20 Ss each were asked for the free recall of three different lists of 28 meaningful English words. Each list contained the associative responses evoked by a different Kent-Rosanoff stimulus word, and differed in the amount of its inter-item associative strength (IIAS). The words in a given list also differed in terms of the number of other words (Nc) in that list producing or cueing that word as an associate. Results showed that the number of items appearing in free recall was a non-monotonic function of IIAS. For two of the three word sets, Nc was positively correlated with the frequency of recall of individual items; while for the third set Nc value and frequency of recall were negatively correlated. The relationship between Nc and order of recall was non-linear, and some tendency toward alternating the recall of high and low Nc words appeared in the data. Thus, IIAS produced both facilitation and interference effects on free recall, the latter being the result of a factor similar to verbal satiation.