Motivation and long-term memory

Abstract

This experiment investigated the effects of motivation on long-term memory. It was hypothesized that when Ss are highly motivated to recall a nonsense syllable list they learned one week earlier, they recall the list better than Ss who are not motivated before recalling the same list. Motivation was found to have an effect only when introduced during the actual learning of the list, one week before recall. It had no effect on trace utilization when introduced just prior to recall one week after learning. © 1968, Psychonomic Journals. All rights reserved.