The free recall search process introduces errors in short term memory but apparently not in long term memory

Here it is reported that the free recall search process increases the error rate for short term memory (about 1% per second in data from Murdock & Okada (1970)) but not for long term memory (in data from McDermott (1996)). If the short term memory search process introduces random excitations, which would account for the search errors, the subjects should be unaware of making such errors. This is in agreement with DRM findings (Gallo, 2010) and the new finding that the error terminated distributions in Murdock (1962) are the same as those terminated by studied items