Abstract
A guessing strategy interpretation of the Ranschburg effect-poor recall of repeated items in a short sequence-was tested by manipulating repetition frequency in the surrounding sequence. Three groups of 32 college students were tested with high-, low-, and mixed-repetition structure lists. The usual Ranschburg effect was obtained in the low-repetition group, but no significant differences were found on the high-repetition group. Performance in the mixed-repetition structure group was intermediate, but comparison of high and low sublists within the mixed condition revealed nearly identical performance for both sublists, more similar to the separate high-repetition group than to the low group.
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We are greatly endebted to Cheryl Connelly and Frederick Liewehr for their assistance.
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Hinrichs, J.V., Mewaldt, S.P. The Ranschburg effect: Modification of guessing strategies by context. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 9, 85–88 (1977). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336937
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336937