REHEARSAL AND RECALL IN IMMEDIATE MEMORY∗

Abstract

Experiments on the influence of rehearsal on the retention and recoil of digit combinations are described, from the results of which it appears that a rehearsal period facilitates recall by producing a transition from immediate to permanent memory. It further seems that some parts of the material presented reach permanency very quickly, without much rehearsal, and also that mere transmission of material by the organism without intention to memorize it, nevertheless has some effect on material in the long-term memory store. It is argued that, during a rehearsal period, the main activity of the subject is not to repeat the material automatically, but to assimilate it with the conditional probabilities of past events.