The Effect of Word Familiarity on Word Recall
The Effect of Semantic Familiarity on Immediate Free Recall Of Semantically Related or Unrelated Words
Abstract
Past research has shown that words that are used at a higher frequency, or those that are more familiar, and used in day-to-day life corresponds to higher immediate free recall. It has also been found that semantically related words appear to be recalled at a higher frequency as opposed to semantically unrelated items. In this study, we aim to investigate two variables, word familiarity and semantic relatedness would, and their effect on immediate recall. Within the experiment, there were three conditions used to test these variables, and were all used on each participant. The first was a condition control which included words that were semantically unrelated, and were rated as medium familiarity; the second was a group of semantically related words with high familiarity, and finally a group of semantically related words with low familiarity. The results concluded that recall is influenced by both familiarity as well as position in the word list, where high familiarity items were recalled more, and items towards the top and bottom of the list were recalled more. There was however, a strong Recency effect that outweighed the primacy effect, which can be used as support for the existence of dual store in memory.
Introduction
There is a vast amount of research that has been conducted which suggests that semantic organization is correlated with improved memory. Poirier & Saint – Aubin, for instance, focused on performance in recollection, they aimed to investigate the effect frequency has on item recall, through the use of lists that were either phonologically similar, versus distinct list, in the results, they observed, they found a clear primacy and Recency effect, in all conditions. It was also found that lists of words containing semantic relations had a higher frequency of recall in comparison to semantically dissimilar lists. This was
Abstract
Past research has shown that words that are used at a higher frequency, or those that are more familiar, and used in day-to-day life corresponds to higher immediate free recall. It has also been found that semantically related words appear to be recalled at a higher frequency as opposed to semantically unrelated items. In this study, we aim to investigate two variables, word familiarity and semantic relatedness would, and their effect on immediate recall. Within the experiment, there were three conditions used to test these variables, and were all used on each participant. The first was a condition control which included words that were semantically unrelated, and were rated as medium familiarity; the second was a group of semantically related words with high familiarity, and finally a group of semantically related words with low familiarity. The results concluded that recall is influenced by both familiarity as well as position in the word list, where high familiarity items were recalled more, and items towards the top and bottom of the list were recalled more. There was however, a strong Recency effect that outweighed the primacy effect, which can be used as support for the existence of dual store in memory.
Introduction
There is a vast amount of research that has been conducted which suggests that semantic organization is correlated with improved memory. Poirier & Saint – Aubin, for instance, focused on performance in recollection, they aimed to investigate the effect frequency has on item recall, through the use of lists that were either phonologically similar, versus distinct list, in the results, they observed, they found a clear primacy and Recency effect, in all conditions. It was also found that lists of words containing semantic relations had a higher frequency of recall in comparison to semantically dissimilar lists. This was
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