EFFECTS OF NATURAL LANGUAGE MEDIATORS ON SHORT-TERM MEMORY

ASSESSED THE RELATIONSHIP OF NATURAL LANGUAGE MEDIATORS (NLMS) OR IDIOSYNCRATIC ASSOCIATIONS TO RECALL IN SHORT-TERM MEMORY (STM). 250 SS EACH RECEIVED 25 TRIALS ON A TASK SIMILAR TO THAT USED BY L. R. PETERSON AND M. J. PETERSON (SEE 34:4). ASSOCIATION VALUE (LOW, MEDIUM, AND HIGH) OF THE STIMULUS CVCS OR ITEM PRESENTATION TIME (2, 3, AND 4 SEC.) WAS VARIED. NLMS WERE OBTAINED BY VERBAL REPORT DURING PRESENTATION OF THE CVC AND UPON RECALL OF THE CVC AT THE END OF THE RETENTION INTERVAL (0, 5, 10, 15, OR 30 SEC.). ITEMS WITH NLMS WERE BETTER RETAINED THAN ROTE LEARNED ITEMS AT ALL RETENTION INTERVALS EXCEPT ZERO SEC. ASSOCIATION VALUE HAD A STRONG EFFECT BOTH ON NUMBER OF NLMS GIVEN AND ON RECALL OF CVCS. PRESENTATION TIME WAS POSITIVELY BUT WEAKLY RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF NLMS GIVEN DURING THE STUDY PERIOD, AND HAD NO EFFECT ON THE PROPORTION OF CVCS CORRECTLY RECALLED. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.