Abstract
Seven-consonant stimuli were recalled immediately. When the consonant in Position 2 was repeated in Position 5, 6, or 7, an increase in errors occurred at the latter position, as compared with control stimuli involving no repetition. Confirmation of the Ranschburg Phenomenon does not occur, however, when the repeated-element positions are 2 and 4. Nor was there an increased error rate for elements following a repeated element. These observations support the importance of intra-stimulus interference in immediate memory, but leave uncertain the associative mechanism responsible for such interference.
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This research was supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency and was monitored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, under Contract Number AF 49(638)-1235 with the Human Performance Center of the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan. Additionally, we wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Karalyn E. Friedman in collecting and checking the data.
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Crowder, R.G., Melton, A.W. The Ranschburg Phenomenon: Failures of immediate recall correlated with repetition of elements within a stimulus. Psychon Sci 2, 295–296 (1965). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03343462
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03343462