Attempted to examine the function of rehearsal in the retention of individual verbal items in an experiment with 50 undergraduates. Varying amounts of unrestricted rehearsal and rehearsal interference were manipulated between Ss. Recall was taken after each item and again after all items had been presented. Ss were not informed of the final recall task until all items had been presented. The wide difference in results on the 2 recall tests for Ss given extra rehearsal time suggested that Ss utilized rehearsal primarily to maintain items in short-term memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)