| Abstract: | The organization imposed by children on lists presented in a multitrial free recall task was investigated in two experiments. In the first, 6 and 9 year olds were tested for multitrial free recall of an unstructured noun or mixed list, followed by two sorting trials. Organization was quantified using two structurally comparable indices. One was an index of subjective clustering, based on individual word groupings determined in the sorting trials, and the other was an index of the sequential consistency of recall order over successive trials. The older children had significantly higher scores on recall and subjective clustering but there was no age effect on sequential consistency. In the second experiment 6, 8 and 10 year olds were tested for multitrial free recall of line drawings of common objects. Two sorting trials followed and organization was quantified using the subjective clustering and sequential consistency indices. Recall and subjective clustering scores again showed significant increases with age. As before, no age effect on sequential consistency was found. The results were interpreted in terms of a differential sensitivity of the two indices to an age-related qualitative change in the basis of organization. |
