Recall of categorized and unrelated lists with complete versus discrete presentation and fast versus moderate presentation rates

In Experiment 1, free recall was higher after complete presentations of 20-word lists for 48 sec than after one list presentation at a 2.4-sec rate or four presentations at a 0.6-sec rate. The latter two conditions yielded nearly equal free recall; there was no interaction between list type and presentation condition. Category clustering was greater with complete than with discrete presentation, but within conditions, there was no relationship between clustering and free recall. In Experiment 2, instructions to use our organizational study strategy with complete lists did not improve recall. These results do not support an organizational-strategy explanation of the superiority of complete presentation. The presentation-rate results are consistent with prior data that had indicated a similarity of effectiveness for free recall of rates from about 0.5 to 3 sec; implications of that conclusion are discussed.