Abstract
This experiment addressed the effects of divided attention on the remembering of subject-performed tasks (SPTs) and verbally presented sentences. Subjects were asked to memorize organizable SPTs or sentences under conditions of focused or divided attention, and their memory was tested by means of free and cued recall. Results indicated a higher overall recall level for SPTs than for sentences, and that beneficial effects of taxonomic cues were equal across materials and encoding conditions. In addition, free and cued recall of both SPTs and sentences deteriorated under conditions of divided attention, the deterioration being somewhat greater for sentences. This pattern of results replicates and extends previous research. It is suggested that the data reflect the involvement of effort and strategies in the encoding of both types of material.
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The research reported in this article was supported by a grant from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. We are indebted to Raimo Melender and Lars Nyberg for assistance in the experimental and statistical work.
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BÄckman, L., Nilsson, LG. Effects of divided attention on free and cued recall of verbal events and action events. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 29, 51–54 (1991). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334767
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334767