The Verbal Learning Effect in Recognition and Recall Memory for Verbal Stimuli

Three experiments were conducted to test the effects of associative training with representative and nonrepresentative responses upon stimulus recognition and, more importantly, stimulus recall. In Exp. I, is were required to learn, in six study-test trials, one of two P A lists composed of twelve stimulus items (trigram doublets) either high or low in meaningfulness (M). Half the stimuli in each list were paired with representative responses, the other half were paired with nonrepresentative responses. The results, obtained from a two-item, forced-choice recognition test, showed that performance was positively related to stimulus M, and the facilitating effect of associative training with representative as opposed to nonrepresentative responses (generally referred to as the verbal labeling effect, VLE), upon subsequent stimulus recognition, was negatively correlated with stimulus M. In short, a VLE occurred with low-M stimuli but not with high-M stimuli. Exp. II was essentially the same as Exp. I except that Ss were required to recall the stimuli rather than recognize them. The pattern of results was exactly the same, indicating similar underlying processes in recognition and recall memory. Exp. III looked at the locus (original learning or memory testing) of the VLE in recall by (1) providing the response terms at training and testing; (2) providing the responses at training but not at testing; and (3) providing the responses at testing but not at training. Performance was best when the responses were present at both training and testing, indicating that the locus of the effect was at both sites. This finding is inconsistent with data corning from recognition studies in which similar variables have been tested and suggests different underlying processes operating in the two memory paradigms. Finally, stimulus M produced a powerful positive effect in both recognition and recall memory