Temporal organization of memory strategies on a sort/recall task

This study examined the temporal structure of children's study behaviors on a sort/recall task. Forty-two fifth-grade children were given six sort/recall trials, each consisting of a two-minute study period followed by a recall assessment. Three trials used the same word list on each trial, while three trials used different word lists on each trial. Half of the participants received the different word list trials first while the order was reversed for the remaining participants. Results were analyzed for differences between recall groups, type of word list used, and presentation order of the trials. High recallers demonstrated stronger temporal patterns of study behaviors than did low recallers (as measured by Fourier analysis of time series data). High recallers also showed stronger tendencies to use behaviors that facilitated performance in close temporal proximity. Type of word list affected recall and temporal patterns of a portion of the study behaviors analyzed.