A number of recent studies have explored the role of long-term memory factors in memory span tasks. The effects of lexicality, frequency, imageability, and word class have been investigated. The work reported in this paper examined the effect of semantic organization on the recall of short lists of words. Specifically, the influence of semantic category on immediate serial recall and the interaction of this variable with articulatory suppression was investigated in three experiments. Experiment 1 compared immediate serial recall performance when lists comprising items from the same semantic category were used (homogeneous condition) with a situation where lists held items from different semantic categories. Experiment 2 examined the same conditions with and without articulatory suppression during item presentation, and Experiment 3 reproduced these conditions with suppression occurring throughout presentation and recall. Results of all three experiments showed a clear advantage for the homogeneous condition. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the homogeneous category advantage did not depend on the articulatory loop. Furthermore, error analysis indicated that this effect was mainly attributable to better item information recall for the homogeneous condition. These results are interpreted as reflecting a long-term memory contribution to the recall stage of immediate serial recall tasks.

Eighteen subjects completed an immediate serial recall task, where the to-be-recalled lists consisted of either high, medium, or low-frequency items. Moreover, lists were either phonologically similar or distinct. Results showed that increasing frequency enhanced item information recall but had no effect on order recall. Conversely, increasing phonological similarity had a detrimental effect on order recall but no significant effect on item recall. It is argued that both effects reflect retrieval processes 'where degraded representations are reconstructed on the basis of long-term knowledge: Low-frequency words have reduced accessibility, lowering the probability of correct reconstruction, and phonologically similar items are more easily confused with other recall candidates.Resume Dix-huit sujets completent une tache de rappel seriel immediat. La frequence des mots (elevee, moyenne, ou faible) est manipulee de meme que leur similarite phonologique. Les resultats montrent que la frequence ameliore le rappel des items sans affecter celui de 1'ordre. Inversement, la similarite phonologique nuit au rappel de 1'ordre sans affecter le rappel des items. Les processus de recuperation expliqueraient ces effets. Au moment du rappel, les traces degradees des items seraient reconstruites a l'aide de representations a long terme; ces representations seraient moins accessibles pour les mots de frequence faible et plus faciles a confondre pour les mots similaires.

Four experiments investigated the disruptive effect of semantic similarity on short-term ordered recall. Experiments 1 and 2 contrasted immediate serial recall performance for lists of semantically similar items, drawn from the same semantic category, with performance for lists that contained items from different categories. Experiments 1 and 2 showed the usual similarity advantage for item information recall, but, contrary to expectations, there was no similarity disadvantage for the recall of order information even when the level of item recall was controlled. Experiments 3 and 4 replicate and extend these findings by using an order reconstruction task or a limited word pool strategy, both of which yield alternate measures of order retention. These findings clearly contradict the wide spread belief stating that semantic similarity hinders the short-term recall of order information. Results are discussed in the light of a retrieval-based account where the effects of semantic similarity reflect the processes called upon at recall: It is suggested that long-term knowledge is accessed to support the interpretation of degraded phonological traces.

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In immediate serial recall, an error can occur because the presented item is not recalled (item error) or because it is recalled at the wrong serial position (order error). Even if these two types of information can be selectively influenced, in most current studies, a global performance measure confounding item and order information is used. Here, the issues associated with the measure of memory for item and order information are discussed. First, it is argued that in some circumstances it is very important that item information be controlled for when measuring order retention, by for example, conditionalizing order memory on memory for item information. Second, using such measures, it is shown that long‐term memory factors recently investigated in immediate serial recall produce a different pattern of results than what is predicted by most current models: Semantic similarity, word frequency, and lexicality all influence item recall, but only lexicality affects order information. These findings are discussed in the light of a retrieval‐based account suggesting that degraded phonological traces must undergo a reconstruction process calling upon long‐term knowledge of the to‐be‐remembered items.