EFFECTS OF INTRALIST STIMULUS SIMILARITY AND DEGREE OF LEARNING ON FORGETTING

Retention of lists varying in intralist stimulus similarity was measured after 1 week following learning to one of three levels. The results showed no effect of similarity on forgetting at low or high criteria, but less forgetting of the high-similarity list at the medium criterion. There was some evidence of maximum forgetting at the moderate criterion in the low-similarity list. The results are not explainable by differential recovery of interference, but are probably due to partial grouping of items in the high-similarity list. © 1968 Academic Press Inc.