The article Improving Retrieval was published in 1987 discusses the experiments conducted by Herrmann, Buschke and Gall, They evaluated how prolonged practice could improve the ability of memory retrieval. In the study they focused specifically on two forms of practice: general and specific. General practice evaluated if practice would improve memory recall for all categories in experiments over time. Specific practice, tested the retrieval of specific categories.
In their research they used three separate experiments. In experiment 1, the method consisted of thirty-six paid undergraduates from Hamilton College. Half participated in the specific practice and the other half in the general practice of memory recall. Each group did ten recall trials, which lasted for 10 min with 2 mins of silence. Subjects in each group was given the same categories in 1st and 2nd trials to recall. The succeeding trials varied. The general participates attempted to recall a new category drawn from the previous categories. The specific participates attempted to recall the exact category of the previous group. …show more content…
Seven participated in the specific practice, seven in the general practice and six in the non-practice group. The experiment was the same as experiment 1, except each trial happened on different days totaling 21 trials. On the second day all participates were assigned different but the same categories across the group. The participates of the specific practice group had to recall the category given on the second day everyday through the 21st session. General group recalled different categories each session through the 21st session. The non-practice groups only participated on the 1st,2nd and 21st day following the same procedures as the other two groups. General practice again failed to have any sufficient recall abilities, same with non-practice participates. Specific practice group were able to recall nearly all of the