A replication and extension of a questionnaire technique for assessing very long-term memory is described. A 90-item questionnaire containing items from five different categories was administered to an Introductory Psychology class consisting of 90 females and 57 males. Results from each of the five categories revealed deviations from a linear trend in the recognition scores of items for a given year. Also, the results indicated that large proportions of the variance were due to the stimulus items used for that particular category. A post hoc test was included for two of the categories which tested the relationship between the number of references an item received in the New York Times Index with its recognition score on the questionnaire. A significant relationship was found and this evidence was used to support the hypothesis that the more available an item is to the general public, the more recognizable or distinctive it becomes. This distinctiveness causes the item to be resistant to memory decay and more recognizable, regardless of age.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/182748 |
| Date | January 1983 |
| Creators | Czerwinski, Mary P. |
| Contributors | Wittig, Arno F. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | i, 50 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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