The effects of search criteria and retrieval cue availability on memory for words

The effects of search criteria upon recall performance following a word classification task were investigated. Rival hypotheses were tested, one based on the number of cues available at retrieval and the other on the amount of processing carried out during classification. After being presented with two-component category names, subjects classified words on the basis of either category membership or the number of semantic components the words shared with a target category, and then they received an unexpected recall test. Experiment 1 favored an amount-of-processing explanation, but it was felt that redundancy in the stimulus materials might invalidate this conclusion. Experiment 2 confirmed this suspicion and clearly supported an explanation in terms of retrieval cue availability. The notion of partial semantic processing of words is discussed, and it is argued that the number of congruent encodings formed during classification can be used as an index of elaboration and subsequent memory performance.