The Role of Concreteness and Subjective Grouping in Organized Memory

Abstract

<p>A considerable body of information exists which describes the structures of organized memory and the mechanisms which produce these structures. However, this information is based largely on the study of semantically or conceptually related information. The experiments in this thesis extend this work by investigating the subjective organization of groups of words differing in concreteness. Such studies of subjective organization are particularly interesting because they are more closely analogous to the organizational activities found in more naturalistic settings.</p> <p>Evidence for subjective organization was found in the input-output consistencies of subjects' recall, and in the results obtained under conditions of cued recall. Both presentation grouping and concreteness were found to enhance organization, but did so differently. The contiguous presentation of groups of items appears to promote the formation of well integrated subjective units. Concreteness, on the other hand, appears to facilitate not only the formation of well integrated subjective units, but also the subsequent access to these units.</p>