Free Recall and Proximity Effects in Intertrial Organization

Abstract

The phenomenon of verbal learning for almost 100 years has been of much concern in the field of psychology. This interest can be understood when one realizes that much of memory-thus learning-in the human organism is of a verbal nature. One of the most promising approaches to the study of memory is the interest in free recall. As early as 1885 Hermann Ebbinghaus had experimented to such an extent as to be able to publish a book of empirical findings on memory. Ebbinghaus' served as both experimenter and subject in his studies. He learned, relearned, and memorized lists of nonsense syllables.