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The emergence of the word length effect in young children: The effects of overt and covert rehearsal
Author(s) -
Johnston Rhona S.,
Johnson Catherine,
Gray Caroline
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1987.tb01059.x
Subject(s) - covert , psychology , recall , task (project management) , free recall , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , articulatory suppression , verbal learning , word (group theory) , working memory , short term memory , cognition , linguistics , philosophy , management , neuroscience , economics
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of training 5‐year‐olds to carry out both overt and covert rehearsal in a serial order recall task. As the superior recall for short words versus long words in adults is attributed to the use of verbal rehearsal, it was hypothesized that young children who do not normally show these effects would do so when trained to rehearse. Both overt and covert rehearsal were found to be equally effective in producing a word length effect, and these results were taken as supportive of the view that such effects are due to verbal rehearsal. It was also concluded that when instructed to do so 5‐year‐olds can make effective use of inner speech in serial order recall tasks.