Mnemonic Elaboration in Mul t i l is t Learning

This study inquires whether retroactive interference (RI) from learning multiple word lists can be altered through mnemonic strategies The Ss learned five successive hsts of 20 words each by associating the words with 20 conceptual pegs via visual imagery Some Ss were instructed to visuahze the words from the successive hsts in entirely new associative scenes; other Ss were to incorporate the current list's words into the appropriate scenes from the earher hsts. Although equwaleut in immediate recall, the Separate Images (SI) group recalled less than the Progressive Elaboration (PE) group at the end of the session, and showed a strict RI curve across lists where the PE group did not. Recall at a one-week test, however, favored earlier hsts for the PE group only, explicable in terms of cumulative rehearsal of earher 1terns with the PE method.