Cued vs. free recall in long-term memory of the fifty united states

Subjects were asked to recall the names of the fifty United States under varied conditions. These conditions included free recall and cued recall. The recall of the fifty United States was poorer than expected for college students. The average recall was approximately 41 out of 50 states. When subjects were asked to fill in the names of the states on a blank map, recall dropped to approximately 32 out of 50 states. It appears that subjects can recall some states better than others. For example, recall is better for states in close proximity to a subject’s current residence. Perhaps subjects have a geographic bubble when it comes to recalling the names of the states.