title: Using overt rehearsals to explain word frequency effects in free recall.
abstract: Three experiments examined the word frequency effect in free recall using the overt rehearsal methodology. Experiment 1 showed that lists of exclusively high-frequency (HF) words were better recalled, were rehearsed more, and were rehearsed to more recent serial positions than low-frequency (LF) words. A small HF advantage remained even when these 2 variables were equated. Experiment 2 showed that all these effects were much reduced with mixed lists containing both HF and LF words. Experiment 3 compared pure and mixed lists in a within-subject design and confirmed the findings of Experiments 1 and 2. It is argued that number of rehearsals, recency of rehearsals, and strength of interitem associations cause the word frequency effect in free recall.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, England. gdward@essex.ac.uk
authors.forename: Geoff
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Woodward
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Clare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stinson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D012691:Serial Learning; D012718:Set, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning