Effect of category and hierachy on recall

The first 200 words of this essay...

A2 unit 6 Coursework

How do categorisation and hierarchy affect memory?

Effect of hierarchy and categorisation on recall

Contents

* Abstract

* Introduction

* Method

* Results

* Discussion

* References

* Appendix

Abstract

Introduction

Memory is the process by which people and other organisms encode, store, and retrieve information. Encoding refers to the initial perception and registration of information. Storage is the retention of encoded information over time. Retrieval refers to the processes involved in using stored information. Whenever people successfully recall a prior experience, they must have encoded, stored, and retrieved information about the experience.

Previous research into similar topics as mine include, Bower, Bousfield and Broadbent and Broadbent. Bousfield conducted the earliest program of research on organisation. In his study, Bousfield asked subjects to name, for example, as many birds as they could. The result was that the subjects tended to name the words in subgroups, such as 'robin, blue jay, sparrow -- chicken, duck, goose, eagle, hawk.' To investigate this further, Bousfield (1953) gave subjects a 60-item list to be learned for free recall. Unlike other work at that time, however, Bousfield used