A unit analysis of prose memory
Abstract
Four stories were divided into function word units. These units were assigned dependent
variable values determined by the scoring of subjects' recalls and independent variable
values determined by measures of gist, imagery, repetition, frequency of occurrence,
serial position, grammatical connectedness, centrality in a propositional net, and
subjects' intuitions of which units would be remembered. The independent variables
were all statistically significant predictors of recall. Subjects' intuitions and
gist were the best predictors of the more structured stories, while repetition and
serial position were the best predictors of the less structured stories. For each
story, the underlying rank ordering of function word units from most to least likely
to be remembered was the same for all subjects (i.e., scalable). While changes in
the retention interval, subject population, and motivation level affected the amount
recalled, these changes had little affect on the rank ordering of the units from most
to least likely to be remembered. Changes in the retrieval task from free recall to
prompted recall and recognition affected both the amount and rank ordering of units.
© 1978 Academic Press, Inc.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18978Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1016/S0022-5371(78)90370-5Publication Info
Rubin, DC (1978). A unit analysis of prose memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 17(5). pp. 599-620. 10.1016/S0022-5371(78)90370-5. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18978.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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David C. Rubin
Juanita M. Kreps Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
For .pdfs of all publications click here My main research interest has been in
long-term memory, especially for complex (or "real-world") stimuli. This work includes
the study of autobiographical memory and oral tra

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