The effect of relations in paired-associate learning

Previous studies have shown that the cued recall of paired associates is greater when one member of a pair has been apprehended as lying on the other member, as compared with the two having been apprehended as independent objects. The effect occurs when the objects have been perceived, imagined, or described in the relevant relationship. The additional thoughts hypothesis postulates that participants have more spontaneous "additional thoughts" when apprehending a pair in the relational condition. These may provide additional retrieval routes, thereby explaining the effect. In four experiments, the hypothesis was tested under conditions in which a clear unambiguous definition could be specified for an additional thought. The results showed that the greater recall in an "on" condition, as compared with an independent condition, occurs at least in part because more additional thoughts occur in the "on" condition. There was no evidence for any other contribution to the effect. It is argued that the findings question whether relations between objects play a fundamental role in the structure of memory.