PRIORITY AND DISTINCTIVENESS: ENHANCING FREE RECALL USING CATEGORICAL NETWORK

Abstract

Schmidt, Schmidt, & Wilson (in prep.) demonstrated that participants can use word color to prioritize recall only when they are told which of two word colors has higher value before (rather than after) list presentation. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effects of word priority and distinctiveness on memory when word priority is determined by membership in semantic categories rather than by word color. Participants recalled homogeneous lists of words from the same category, 50/50 lists (with half of the words from one category given low priority point values and half of the words from another category given high priority point values), and isolation lists (with one high or low priority target word embedded in serial position 2 in a list of background words with contrasting priority). For each list, participants were given point values (low vs high priority) to two different categories following each word list presentation. High-priority target and background words were better remembered than low-priority words. Distinctive targets were better remembered than non-distinctive targets, but only when the targets were high-priority. The results of this study demonstrate that participants can prioritize recall of words according to semantic category after the words have been presented. Furthermore, the results indicate that priority is a stronger factor in enhancing memory than distinctiveness, but that distinctiveness can strengthen recall for stimuli that also have high priority.