Attempts to determine whether a sufficiently demanding and difficult interpolated task (shadowing, i.e., repeating aloud) would decrease recall for earlier-presented items as well as for more recent items. Listening to music was included as a second interpolated task. Results support views that serial position effects reflect a single process.…

Superordinate cues (e.g., "animal" for "dog") and coordinate cues (e.g., "cat" for "dog") were compared in two experiments. Associability and not the superordinate or coordinate relationship seems to be important in determining the effectiveness of cues. (Editor)

An account is given of the exceptional memory of the late Professor A. C. Aitken who was also a distinguished mathematician and mental calculator. Compared with Shereshevskii, another man with exceptional memory, he shows the scholar's reliance on conceptual mapping rather than the mnemonist's reliance on perceptual chaining. (Editor)

The existence of verification processes in recognition memory was confirmed in the context of Adams' (Adams & Bray, 1970) closed-loop theory. Subjects' recognition was tested following a learning session. The expectation was that data would reveal consistent internal relationships supporting the position that natural language mediation plays…

To help undergraduate psychology students learn basic concepts in the experimental method, a basketball game is construed as a psychology experiment. Although no formal evaluation of the effectiveness of the basketball analogy as a learning device was conducted, students responded favorably. (RM)

A FORTRAN 77 program is described that computes both the different response success-error patterns and their summary statistics for learning and forgetting in fixed trial experiments using a two-stage Markov model. (Author/GDC)

A complete package for Markov model-based fixed trial learning experiments contains four FORTRAN 77 programs. Two of the programs deliver likelihood and parameter estimates of one- and two-stage learning models, and two may be used for hypothesis testing of parameter differences between and within experimental conditions. (Author/GDC)

Experiments where participants are randomly assigned into experimental and control groups are often regarded as the ideal approach to evaluation of labor force policies. This paper shows that such design can yield misleading and incomplete information. It proposes alternate designs that permit estimation of marginal as well as average program…

Describes an apparatus (built from domestic plumbing pipes and fittings) that uses only water and electricity (as consumables) to investigate basic mass and heat balances in a system with recycle. Also describes experiments using the apparatus. (JN)

Background information (including chemical reactions) and procedures used are provided for (1) three buffer demonstrations and (2) a demonstration of phase transfer catalysis and carbanion formation. (JN)

Describes experiments in which students determine the ground state ionization constant (GSIC) by analyzing the absorption spectra of 2-naphthol in acidic, basic, and buffered solutions. Information on the ground and excited state ionization constants and on the kinetics of the excited state deprotonation-protonation reaction is included. (JN)

Background information, procedures used, and equipment needed are provided for an experiment in which a series of readily available, inexpensive, and relatively nontoxic phenols are separated using thin-layer chromatographic techniques. The experiment permits a discussion of how relative Rf values may be rationalized by considering a molecule's…

A retroreflector is a mirror that removes distortion from a light beam. Describes experiments using the retroreflector as well as related phenomena. (JN)

Job's method of continuous variations is a commonly used procedure for determining the composition of complexes in solution. Presents: (1) a review of the method; (2) theory of a new procedure for measuring Job's plots; and (3) an undergraduate experiment using the new method. (JN)

Determining the pounds of sodium chloride needed for a water softener to replace all the calcium/magnesium ions in a month's water supply for a typical local household is used as an exercise to integrate several chemistry concepts. The solution to this problem and suggestions for related laboratory experiments are offered. (JN)