Category Headings as Recall Cues: A Test of the Principle of Encoding Specificity

Input and output cues were factorially varied in the free and cued recall of a list of 48 words in order to test the principle of encoding specificity. In each of two experiments 20 college students (10 male, 10 female) sorted 32 words under eight taxonomic category headings and 16 words under the heading "uncategorized." One-half of the categorized items and one-half of the uncategorized items were then cued at recall with appropriate taxonomic category headings. Experiments 1 and 2 differed only in the number of words per category. In both experiments free recall was improved for those items that had been categorized during acquisition. In addition, using category headings as recall cues in Experiments 1 and 2 resulted in nearly equal levels of recall for all items-those categorized during input and those that were not. Thus, contrary to the principle of encoding specificity, recall was improved when items were categorized during input, as well as when they were cued at recall, regardless of whether they had been initially categorized.