Effects of imagery on individual item identifications and frequency judgments in multiple-item recognition learning
Abstract
Exps I and II, with a total of 136 undergraduate Ss, tested predictions derived from contrasting frequency cue explanations of the positive effect of high imagery on multiple-item recognition. The task involved individual-item identifications in which Ss identified both the oldness and prior function of single items following practice on paired items of high or low imagery. Hit rates for identifying prior function of both right and wrong items varied positively with the imagery level of those items. This pattern supported a nonfrequency cue hypothesis that emphasizes the elaborative rehearsal of right items during paired-item study trials. Exp III, involving a frequency judgment task and 60 Ss, gave further support for the nonfrequency cue hypothesis by demonstrating that the disparity between the distributions of frequency units for right and wrong items was unaffected by item imagery level. (22 ref)