EPISODIC AND SEMANTIC MEMORY COMPONENTS OF VERBAL PAIRED-ASSOCIATE LEARNING

One argument for distinguishing between hard (i.e., low-associate) and easy (i.e., high-associate) paired-associate learning is that hard as sociates provide a selective measure of episodic memory, whereas easy associates reflect both episodic and semantic memory. This study exami ned correlations between hard and easy verbal paired associates and ep isodic and semantic memory in a mixed clinical sample. When age and ed ucation were controlled, hard paired associates correlated as much wit h category fluency (i.e., semantic memory) as they did with immediate recall or retention (i.e., episodic memory). Correlations with hard an d easy associates differed more on retention than on immediate recall. Letter fluency was essentially unrelated to either easy or hard assoc iates. The study concludes that hard paired associate learning should not be presumed to selectively measure episodic memory.