City Research Online

Abstract

The primary objective of the research reported here was to test the generality of a Cue-Overload interpretation of memory phenomena. This states that recall is mediated by cues and that these cues get overloaded, and become less effective for recall, as they come to subsume more and more items. A secondary aim of the thesis was to investigate the effects of typicality on recall.

The experimental work reported falls into three broad categories. Experiments 1 and 2 establish the effects of cue-overload in a release from retroactive inhibition paradigm, and support a common interpretation of release from retroactive and proactive inhibition in terms of Cue-Overload. Experiments 3, 5, 6 and 7 demonstrate that the Cue-Overload Principle breaks down when it is required to predict the effects on recall of systematic changes in the strength of association among to-be-recalled items and between these and the cues used for recall, as determined by the items’ rated typicality. These experiments also provide evidence of the effects of typicality on recall, and test the appropriateness of some of the available theories concerning the nature of typicality effects in general. Experiment 4 describes the collection of a comprehensive set of normative data — rated typicality, rated familiarity and associative frequency — for a 531-word corpus, and describes a correlational analysis of the interdependence of the three measures. Such an analysis is not possible using the commonly used, American, sets of norms, and it extends our understanding of the nature of typicality.

The final chapter of the thesis summarizes the principal experimental findings and describes a proposed Similarity/Accessibility Hypothesis, which is shown to complement the Cue-Overload formulation and to greatly improve its ability to account for the data reported. The implications of the Hypothesis for future research are outlined.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Departments:	Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses > School of Arts and Social Sciences Doctoral Theses City, University of London (-2022) > School of Arts & Social Sciences School of Arts & Social Sciences

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