Intraserial repetition and coding processes in free recall

Free recall of lists of words in which some items were presented once and some twice was examined in two experiments. The major independent variable was lag—number of items intervening between the first and second presentations of repeated words. Under a number of different experimental conditions, probability of recall of repeated words increased as lag increased. Providing S s with a different cue word for the first and second presentations of repeated words, during both input and output, largely eliminated the lag effect. These results were discussed in terms of variable coding of nominally identical items, and in terms of the conditions under which repetition augments recall.