MEMORY UNITS, IDEAS, AND PROPOSITIONS IN SEMANTIC REMEMBERING

Two-dimensional recall shows that text-based story recall and retrieval of textless semantic knowledge involve the recall of distinct recurrent memory units which are clustered consistently in repeated recall. Most memory units contain a single idea and most clusters contain two or three memory units. The recall units involved in story recall correspond closely to the propositional units determined by an independent propositional analysis, and the organization of recall corresponds closely to the propositional structure determined independently by application of a story-grammar. This correspondence shows that story recall involves the recall of propositional units organized by a story schema. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.