Association and phrase structure in sentence recall

Abstract

The effect of within- and between-phrase normative controlled association and phrase structure upon word integration in sentence recall was studied in two experiments. The two experiments differed only with respect to type of two-phrase sentence used. In both experiments, one group of Ss was given 4 study-test trials on a list of 4 sentences containing associatively related words, while another group received a list containing associatively unrelated words. On the assumption that an integrated unit is one in which adjacent words are recalled together, the probability of a word-to-word transitional error (TE) was used as a measure of the tendency to integrate the words within the sentences into larger units. In both experiments, the results suggested that the words in low association (LA) sentences are recoded into phrase units, but that the words in high association (HA) sentences are recoded into units that transcend the phrase boundary. The results indicated further that the probability of a TE at the phrase boundary decreases as associative strength across the phrase boundary increases. In addition, the probability of a TE within phrases was higher for LA sentences in Exp. II than for HA sentences. However, in Exp. I, association did not influence TE probability within phrases.