CLUSTERING AND RECALL - DO HIGH CLUSTERERS RECALL MORE THAN LOW CLUSTERERS BECAUSE OF CLUSTERING

Three experiments attempted to explain why high clusterers recall more than low clusterers. In Experiment 1, we cued high and low clusterers to recall category exemplars contiguously, noncontiguously, or by free recall. Performance was best contiguously, worst noncontiguously, and intermediate in free recall. Surprisingly, the magnitude of the high-clusterer recall superiority was the same in each recall condition. In Experiment 2, we investigated whether differences between high and low clusterers involve differences in how lists are studied. Again, the high-low clusterer recall difference was the same when category exemplars were presented contiguously and randomly for study. Experiment 3 showed a high-clusterer recall superiority in unrelated-word lists. We conclude that the high-clusterer recall advantage is due not to clustering per se. Clustering can be viewed as a moderator variable that facilitates recall within the boundaries set by ability differences among subjects.