Abstract
Savin and Perchonock suggest that when a sentence and additional unrelated words are presented for immediate recall, the number of words recalled in addition to that sentence represents the space left over in a limited memory store after the sentence and its transformational tag have been stored. They report error data and word-recall data in support of a transformational model of sentence processing. In two replications of that study, error data failed to support the transformational model. Furthermore, the word-recall data could be attributed to differential word-recall delays-the more complex the sentence, the longer the delay between word presentation and word recall. These findings, as well as others in the literature. fail to support a transformational interpretation of sentence processing.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BADDELEY, A. S. Semantic and acoustic simüarity in short-term memory. Nature, 1964, 204, 1116–1117.
CLIFTON, C, JR., & ODOM, P. Simüarity relations among certain English sentence constructions. Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80 (5, Whole No. 613).
JOHNSON, N. F. On the relationship between sentence structure and the latency in generating the sentence. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 1966, 5, 375–380.
KATZ, J. J., & POSTAL, P. M.An integrated theory of linguistic descriptions. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T., 1964.
MATTHEWS, W. A. Transformational complexity and short-term recall. Language & Speech, 1968, 11, 120–128.
McMAHON, L. E. Grammatical analysis as part of understanding a sentence. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. 1963.
MEHLER, J. Some effects of grammatical transformations on the recall of English sentences. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior. 1963, 2, 346–351.
MILLER, G. A. Some psychological studies of grammar. American Psychologist, 1962, 17,748–762.
MILLER, G. A., & CHOMSKY, N. Finitary models of language users. In R. D. Luce, R. R. Bush, and E. Galanter (Eds.),Handbook of mathematical psychology. Vol. 2. New York: Wiley, 1963. Pp. 419–491.
SAVIN, H. B., & PERCHONOCK, E. Grammatical structure and the immediate recall of English sentences. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 1965,4, 348–353.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Bryant Crouse’s assistance in data collection is gratefully acknowledged, and we wish to thank Harris Savin for making his stimulus materials available to us. This work was supported in part by Public Health Service Grants MH10742 and HD01910 to Princeton University. Additional support was provided by a PHS Predoctoral Fellowship to J. H. Danks.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glucksberg, S., Danks, J.H. Grammatical structure and recall: A function of the space in immediate memory or of recall delay?. Perception & Psychophysics 6, 113–117 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210693
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210693