The effects of verbal labels on the organization and retention of a series of movements in memory

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the organization and retention in the free recall of a series of movements. Specifically, it was the purpose of this investigation to: (1) study the effects of varying verbal labels on the organization of a series of items in memory, (2) determine organizational patterns that may exist around the temporal and spatial characteristics of a series of movements; and (3) compare the effects caused by varying verbal labels on the accuracy in the free recall of a series of movements. Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of varying labels on the organization and retention of a movement series. In Experiment 1, 45 subjects were presented with a series of 6 movements within the memory span. Each movement was attached with a numerical label which indicated either the position it was presented in the series (temporal), the position's location from the starting point relative to the other positions (spatial) or a meaningless label (random). Subjects were then asked to reproduce the series in any manner they wished with the order and location of recall being recorded. A total of three trials were administered. Experiments 2 and 3 were similar to 1 with the exception of an increase in series lengths to 9 and 12 movements, respectively. Chi-squares and contingency coefficients indicated that organization was influenced by both the temporal and spatial characteristics of the series. Temporal labels led to a higher degree of temporal organization while spatial labels led to a higher degree of spatial organization. Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted for groups by presentation order, groups by movement distance, and groups by recall order to determine if differences existed in the retention of the movement series. The results indicated that the spatial label groups were more accurate and consistent in the recall of positions than were the random and temporal label groups...