EFFECTS OF MOBILIZING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON INFORMATION-PROCESSING - STUDIES OF FREE-RECALL AND ALLOCATION OF STUDY TIME

In this study, three experiments examine the effects of mobilizing pri or knowledge on information processing, Subjects generated names of ei ther US presidents or States before studying a relevant list. Study ti me allocated to different parts of the list and free recall were recor ded. In Expt 1, study time was unlimited; no recall differences were f ound but experimental subjects spent less time studying the material. In Expt 2, total study time was fixed, but subjects were free to alloc ate the available time to individual items. Experimental subjects spen t less time on items in the mobilized category and recalled more items . This facilitative effect of mobilization extended or 'spilled over' from mobilized to non-mobilized information. In Expt 3, where both tim e for studying individual items and, hence, total study time were fixe d, experimental subjects recalled more mobilized category items than c ontrols. These results were interpreted in terms of a cognitive set-po int regulating the amount of time spent on processing different parts of the material. Mobilization reduces the time required to reach crite ria set for mobilized category items during study since these items ha ve been processed previously. Finally, these experiments prove that th e set-point hypothesis applies not only to items actually mobilized bu t also to non-mobilized same-category items, probably through a proces s of spreading activation at mobilization.