Effects of elaboration on retrieval of words in incidental memory

The present study was carried out to investigate the mechanism of retrieval of words in incidental memory. Thirty college students were asked to generate free associates to each target word followed by unexpected free recall and recognition tests. In the free recall test, subjects were instructed to recall both targets and generated associates. The probability of targets which elicited more associates correctly recalled was higher than that of those which did less when their associates previously recalled. The above result was interpreted as showing that the more target words had retrieval route from the generated associates the more they were recalled. False recognition score as an index of between-item elaboration was higher to an associate elicited by three targets than by two or one. No clear effects of between-item elaboration were observed for free recall performance of targets. These results were discussed in term of between-item and within-item elaboration.