Concurrent task in free recall: Differential effects of LTS and STS

Ss carried out tasks at one of three levels of difficulty while being presented with free-recall lists. Immediate and delayed recall of the lists were then tested. The results show that difficulty of the concurrent task lowers the output from long-term store (LTS) but does not affect short-term store (STS) at all. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that information load blocks transfer of items from STS to LTS.