This experiment investigated the assumption that children's learning and retention of prose material can be differentially affected by varying discrepancy from expectation (as established by an advance organizer). It was hypothesized that a passage which differed significantly from expectation would produce heightened arousal, which should in turn…

The quality of redundancy in language usage can be examined to determine its effect on communication efficiency. Semiotic redundancy, defined as the quantity of prolixity between semantic and pragmatic information, has the potential of reducing equivocation and error and, at the optimal level, provides maximum communication efficiency. Thus,…

This report describes seven basic experiments designed to further elucidate the nature and function of two types of organization imposed by subjects in a free-recall type of memory task. The experiments involved verbal stimulus materials and employed college students as subjects. The two types of organization investigated were category clustering,…

Retention of verbal material presented in a normal linear manner was compared to retention of the same material presented in simultaneous messages for this study. The subjects were 180 undergraduates, and each was randomly assigned to one of the nine experimental groups formed by combinations of presentation--linear, two simultaneous messages, or…

The present experiment contrasted the effects of one and three redundant elements on recall, when the elements prefixed either the stimulus or the response. (Editor)

Recent studies by Jones (1974) have posited that accurate movements in short-term motor memory (STMM) are mediated by the subject's ability to preset effector mechanisms and monitor their efferent output. Three experiments were conducted to examine this hypothesis. (Editor)

Described is the system of mental operations occurring in text comprehension and in recall and summarization. A processing model is outlined: 1) the meaning elements of a text become organized into a coherent whole, 2) the full meaning of the text is condensed into its gist, and 3) new texts are generated from the comprehension processes.…

Determines the relation between recallability and recognizability in experiments presenting a study list, then giving a recall test for some items followed by a recognition test for all items. The results suggested that the set of recallable items were substantially, if not wholly, included within the set of recognizable items. (Author/EJS)

The performance of 77 retarded young adults and adults on five short-term memory tasks was analyzed in order to determine whether these talks possessed construct and ecological validity. (Author)

Investigates whether age differences in memory span are affected by type of material, with the aim of making inferences about capacity. Subjects were 30 boys and girls from each of three elementary school grade levels (first, third and sixth). (Author/MP)

Discusses the nature of the system that keeps track of where things outside as well as inside the visual field are located. (Author/RK)

Properties of categories were investigated by analyzing 22 measures of the 56 categories used in the 1969 Battig and Montague norms. A factor analysis of the data indicated that categories in semantic memory possess at least four factors (category familiarity, category size, category-label printed frequency, semantic complexity) that may affect…

The author concentrates on two components of memory which contribute to the reproduction and recognition of melodies, namely, melodic contour and musical scale. A new experiment is reported that shows the interdependence of both components. (Author/RK)

A resource teacher describes a word imprinting technique which helped to increase reading and memory skills of an 8-year-old student with auditory perception problems. (CL)