Category Properties and the Category-Order Effect

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that recall performance is facilitated by the order of presentation of salient stimuli, referred to as the category-order effect (Brooks & Watkins, 1990; Greene & Lasek, 1994). Specifically, recall is higher on the full list when numbers precede words. To extend and clarify this research, Experiment 1 modified Brooks and Watkins’ paradigm by presenting items as a unitary string (as opposed to a sequential list) containing four random nonrepeating numbers and four letters representing four conditions: random letters, rhyming letters, four letter pseudowords (consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel strings), and four letter words. In contrast to past results, this experiment found better list recall when words and pseudo-words preceded numbers. Experiment 2 more closely represented Brooks and Watkins’(1990) paradigm by sequentially presenting items in 2 blocks: a block of four numbers and a block of four letters.