Process-governed changes in the temporal properties of ordered recalls

Pollio, H. R., Linder, W. & Foote, R. A. Process-governed changes in the temporal properties of ordered recalls. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 114–120.-Two different experiments were run in which Ss were given a large number of recall trials involving binary digits. Half of the Ss were taught a binary coding rule while half were not. As expected, Rule Ss showed consistently more extended recalls and tended to produce temporal output protocols mirroring the structural properties imposed by the coding rule. Present results were compared to results obtained from other free recall studies and led to the conclusion that human Ss when allowed by stimulus or task constraints always structure recall in whatever way they can and that the specific details of how recall is accomplished must always be specific to the particular combination of subjects, materials, and task constraints used in any given experiment.