Selective rehearsal and selective recall

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether pleasant words are rehearsed more frequently than less pleasant words and whether this “selective rehearsal“ could account for “selective recall,” the superior recall of pleasant words in contrast with less pleasant words. English words varying in pleasantness were learned using a free recall paradigm. One group of 24 subjects performed the task using the overt rehearsal technique; they were instructed to say out loud the words they would normally rehearse silently. Another group of 24 subjects used standard covert rehearsal. The results showed that (1) pleasantness was related to rehearsal frequency, (2) rehearsal frequency was related to recall, and (3) pleasantness was related to recall in only one of the four conditions. © 1979, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.