Experimenter-supplied versus subject-originated descriptive sentence and mediation mnemonics in a modified paied-associate learning task

The purpose of the present experiment was to compare the effectiveness of E-supplied and S-originated descriptive sentence and mediation mnemonics to a simple repetition con- dition in a modified paired-associate learning task. The S-originated devices were significantly superior to the E­ supplied aids at the 2-day and 1-week retention intervals. All mnemonic conditions produced significantly higher retention than the mediation E-supplied and SR conditions at the 8-week level. There were no differences in recall between the two S-originated or between the-E-supplied conditions at the 2-day and 1-week intervals. It was concluded that the source of the mnemonic was the crucial variable affecting recall at the shorter retention intervals. The results indicated the possibility of the E-supplied mediation aid acting as a source of interference at the longest retention interval