Jennifer was given a random list of 20 words to study. Jennifer was then asked to recall as many of the words as she could remember in a free recall task. Consistent with verbal learning research, which of the following orders is Jennifer most likely to recall the words in?
A) Random order
B) The same order the words were presented in
C) In categories organized by the words' meanings
D) Alphabetical order

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Research suggests that organization by meaning, such as grouping the words into categories, is an effective way to aid recall in verbal learning tasks. This is known as semantic organization. Random order and alphabetical order do not provide any meaningful organization to aid in recall, and recalling words in the same order they were presented in is less likely due to the serial position effect (primacy and recency effects).

Jennifer Was Given a Random List of 20 Words to Study