Influence of organizing strategies and instructions on short-term retention.

Abstract

The present study analyzed individual differences in the use of organizing strategies and considered their relation to retention performance on lowand high-meaningful paired associates. It also assessed the influence of instructions on the performance of 297 college students using different organizing strategies. The main conclusions reached were: (a) the type of organizing strategy used in memorizing strongly influences recall on tasks involving short-term memory; (b) relatively speaking, subjects are fairly consistent in their use of a particular memory strategy, although they have greater difficulty using high-level organizing strategies on some low-meaningful tasks; and (c) orienting instructions exert a potent influence on retention performance.Until recent years, experimental psychologists have been critical of the strategies that their subjects invariably use in memorizing. Whenever possible, they designed their experiments to eliminate what they regarded as idiosyncratic techniques (Woodworth & Schlosberg, 1954, p. 708). In the sixties, however, many researchers turned to a consideration of human learning as it actually occurs. This shift in approach has led to research on strategies, with interest focusing mainly on natural language mediators and their influence on short-and longterm retention. A major conclusion has been that natural language mediators enhance retention more than rote learning (e.g., Adams, Thorsheim, & Mclntyre, 1969; Groninger, 1966; Montague, Adams, & Kiess, 1966), although there has been some 1 This study derives from a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology of New York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Ph.D. degree. Special thanks are due Ralph H. Goldner and Philip R. Merrifield for their helpful comments and criticisms.8 Requests for reprints should be sent to Shelby

Cognitive processing capacity and learning-mode effects in prose learning.

“…The second factor, learning modes, can be used to improve learning. A number of learning modes merited consideration: adjunct, questions (Bruning, 1968;Frase, 1969;Frase & Silberger, 1970;Furukawa, 1972), advance organizers (Ausubel, 1968), mnemonic devices (Bower, 1970;DiVesta & Sunshine, 1974), programmed instruc-tion (Furukawa, 1970(Furukawa, , 1972, and organizational strategy (Cohen, 1973;Friedman & Greitzer, 1972). From among these learning modes, three were selected for comparison: adjunct questions, programmed instruction, and organizational strategy.…”

2: Research on Aptitude for Learning: A Progress Report

“…In a serial anticipation condition, only use of a mnemonic strategy was related to success. Cohen (1973) gave paired associates to college students who reported the organizing strategies they used for each item, after studying and recalling several lists. They were then assigned to conditions, designed to promote repetitive (rote), formal (using common letter patterns), or experimental (using familiar ideas) organizing strategies.…”