Perceptual identification, fragment completion, and free recall: concepts and data

The effects of orthographically distinctive and orthographically common words were compared on tests of free recall, fragment completion, perceptual identification, and lexical decision. Orthographic distinctiveness is argued to effect data-driven processing and, in light of recent theory, should have little effect upon free recall but substantial effects upon fragment completion and perceptual identification. The results showed superior recall and fragment completion of orthographically distinctive words but more accurate perceptual identification of orthographically common words. Latency of lexical decision was longer for orthographically distinctive than for orthographically common words. The visual complexity of orthographically distinctive words may require more extensive sensory processing than is possible within the temporal constraints of perceptual identification tests. The effect of orthographic distinctiveness upon free recall reveals a certain inadequacy in the notion of transfer-appropriate processing.