Sequence of Information and Processing Strategies in Oral Language

An experimental task of impression formation and recall has earlier been used by the present author to explore processing strategies in oral language and their dependence on the specific order in which information was presented. More particularly the difference between pre-and post-position of a noun in relation to its qualifying adjectives have been investigated. The experiments demonstrated marked differences in recall of adjectives depending on noun position, suggesting rather different processing strategies in these two cases. The results of the present experiment, a replication/generalization study of the earlier experiments, confirm the earlier results. The experiments are discussed within the frame of a social-cognitive theory of language and communication and the levels-of-processing approach to memory processes.