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MEMORY AS A RECONSTRUCTIVE PROCESS
Author(s) -
POLLIO HOWARD R.,
FOOTE RUSSELL
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1971.tb02010.x
Subject(s) - recall , psychology , free recall , subject (documents) , task (project management) , sorting , recall test , associative property , cognitive psychology , reconstructive memory , serial position effect , cognition , episodic memory , explicit memory , computer science , neuroscience , mathematics , management , library science , pure mathematics , economics , programming language
This experiment investigated the effects of subject‐defined structure on the free recall of verbal material. Four separate groups of 15 subjects each sorted four different word lists into individually defined categories. Immediately after sorting, the subjects were unexpectedly asked for a free recall of these words. All subjects' recall outputs were organized in concord with their sorting categories. Over all subjects a number of common categories emerged. In addition, recall categories were found to be temporally distinct in individual recall records. The results were taken to support the view that memory is a reconstructive rather than an associative process when task constraints do not preclude the subject from using subject‐defined organizational factors.