Part-list cuing of associative chains: tests of strategy disruption

Three experiments assess the veracity of the strategy disruption explanation of part-list cuing impairment. Experiment 1 demonstrated no mnemonic detriment in recall as a result of significant disruption of the participants' self-selected forward associative seriation retrieval strategy. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 while reducing overall performance levels in an attempt to reveal any possible detrimental effects. Experiment 3 ruled out 2 possible alternative explanations by demonstrating the typical part-list cuing impairment within this experimental context. It is concluded that the results challenge a strict version of the strategy disruption hypothesis.