Meaning Enhances Recall

The third experiment we conducted in class tested our long term memory. This time we were given 20 words to remember. These 20 words were divided into 2 subgroups. We have to mentally count the syllable of the word labeled with A, and categorized if the word is pleasant or unpleasant if it is labeled B. As the result of our experiment, the highest score for A was 10, and the lowest was 1. The highest for B was 9 and lowest was 2. The highest total was 19, and the lowest total was 6. The produced the average of 5.09 for A, 7.09 for B, and 12.27 in total. From this we can see that we tend to recall more word that we have attached meaning to it (B) than the one that we didn’t (A). However, the result of two participants of the experiment didn’t follow the occurred trend. After all the experiment is done, Pox, participant who got the highest, told us that he used the method of telling meaningful stories (effortful processing) to himself while listening to those words. From this, we can see that the more meaningful the memories are, the easier it is to be recalled.