Role of study strategy in recall of mixed lists of common and rare words

Experiment 1 confirmed previous findings that common words are more recalla ble than are rare words when the 2 binds of words are presented in separate lists but not when they are presented in the same List. Experiment 2 showe d much the same pattern when an orienting task was performed during word pr esentation. In Experiment 3 common words were found to be more recallable t han rare words even for mixed lists when no warning was given of the memory test, although the effect was less pronounced than for pure lists. In Expe riment 4 stronger measures were taken to preclude anticipation of the memor y test, and the effect of word commonness was found to be just as pronounce d with mixed lists as it was with pure lists. It was suggested that lists a re studied in a way believed to optimize recall and that mixed lists foster a strategy of favoring the rare words.