Input and Output Variables in the Recall of Categorized and Uncategorized Lists

Abstract

A list of 25 nouns containing five sets of five words each beginning with a different initial letter was presented for five learning trials. The words were presented either randomly or were blockd on the basis of the initial letter. For half the Ss, the list contained five categories of five words each. For the second half of the Ss the words were unrelated. Recall was either free or cued. Categorized lists were recalled better than uncategorized lists and free recall was better than cued recall. It was concluded that under certain conditions cued recall hinders performance by interfering with the subjective-organization an S imposes on the list.