Organizational Strategies Partially Account for Race-related Differences in List Recall Performance

Organizational strategies have been shown to improve one's ability to recall items from a list. Specifically, use of semantic clustering, the tendency to group items by category when recalling them, predicts better free recall of word lists after short and long delays. The present study utilized a healthy adult sample to examine use of efficient memory strategies as a predictor of differences in neurocognitive findings between African American and white participants.

Participants provided demographic information and completed the California Verbal Learning Test-Second Edition (CVLT-II) and Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-Second Edition (WASI-2).

Groups were matched across socioeconomic status and years of education. White participants used more semantic clustering and performed better on recall measures after short and long delays than their African American peers, and semantic clustering predicted recall in both groups. Regression analyses suggested that use of semantic clustering is a significant partial mediator of the relationship between race and free recall abilities. Intelligence scores from the WASI-2 were correlated with CVLT-II measures in white participants but not African American participants.

Despite quantitatively similar backgrounds, white and African American participants differed in recall performance. However, this study showed that African American participants' poorer recall may be partially attributed to less frequent use of semantic clustering as a strategy. These discrepancies may be rooted in inequalities in educational experiences and suggest that providing organizational strategies during early learning may be an area of intervention to mitigate racial differences seen in neuropsychological testing.