Recognition failure of recallable words in semantic memory

Abstract

In an experiment in which there was no study phase, 54 subjects were tested for recognition of famous surnames and then were tested for cued recall of the same surnames. Subjects failed to recognize 53.4% of names that they subsequently recalled. Recall was significantly higher than recognition. The relationship between overall recognition rate and recognition rate of recallable words closely resembled that reported by Tulving and Wiseman (1975) for episodic memory experiments. The present data therefore extend the generality of this relationship, and of the principle that the probability of retrieval from memory depends critically on the cues provided. It is argued that the similarity between results for episodic memory experiments and the present semantic memory experiment can be more parsimoniously accommodated by tagging theory than by episodic theory. © 1978 Psychonomic Society, Inc.