Discussion
The results of the experiment reported here reveal basic patterns in false recognition. We obtained high levels of false recognition, with the phonological list. We also noted an increase in false recognition as the list lengths increased (6, 12, 18). Underwood (1965) anticipated that an unspoken connection occurred during the remembering process, which would help us to understand false recognition of a word. For instance, if the word thread is seen, and the word needle is thought, then as it is remembered, they may be encoded together; therefore they would be remembered together. That helps to explain the false recognition that we obtained, if the subjects thought of a related word when one word was presented then the two words may have been encoded together, therefore remembered together.
Fuzzy trace theory may be able to explain some of the false recognition. This theory states that as item-specific details fade over time, subjects will place more of an importance on general ideas. A problem with our experiment may have been that we showed all 18 lists of words to our subjects and then immediately tested them. In a more idea study we should have given each test right after the list was shown, or shown the entire list but have different time intervals.
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