SLOW AND STEADY OFTEN TIES THE RACE - EFFECTS OF ITEM-SPECIFIC AND RELATIONAL PROCESSING ON CUMULATIVE RECALL

Analysis of cumulative recall curves originally led to the conclusion that asymptotic recall is inversely related to the rate of approaching asymptote. This finding suggests that recall differences between cond itions on a short test would continue to exist with longer tests. Howe ver, this assumption is not always correct. In Experiments 1 and 2, or ienting tasks promoting relational processing produced an initial reca ll advantage over item-specific processing tasks, but the advantage di minished by the end of the recall period. In Experiment 3, item-specif ic tasks produced a recall advantage over the relational processing ta sk, but this advantage was manifested only after several minutes of re call. Experiments 4 and 5 extended these results. It was suggested tha t the results of a single recall test can be misleading when condition s differ in the amount of relational and/or item-specific information encoded.