Author Question: If I get a list of three weapons, and try to recall them, and then get another list of three ... (Read 73 times)

dmcintosh · **on:** Jun 20, 2018

If I get a list of three weapons, and try to recall them, and then get another list of three weapons, and try to recall them, and then yet another list of three items and try to recall them, what is likely to happen?

a) You will recall the lists more easily as you go on, due to practice effects.
b) You will recall the list more easily as you go on, because they all represent the same concept (weapons).
c) You will get worse at recalling the lists, due to retroactive interference.
d) You will get worse at recalling the lists, due to proactive interference.

Question 2

Wickens et al. (1976) conducted an experiment using the Brown Peterson task. People were given a short list of words, all from the same category, then counted backwards for a few seconds and were asked to recall the list.

They did this three timesand after each time, the recall of the list got worse. On the last trial, the participants
were given a list of words from a different category to study, but were then asked to recall the words from the
first category. How was the recall on this trial?
a) It was as bad as before: it did not get worse, it did not get better.
b) It was the worst yet.
c) Recall actually improved on this trial over prior trials.
d) Participants were confused about the instructions and refused to answer.