Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-r6c6k Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-12T08:06:38.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Stochastic Model for Free Recall

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Nancy C. Waugh  and
J. E. Keith Smith
Nancy C. Waugh
Affiliation:
Harvard University
J. E. Keith Smith
Affiliation:
Lincoln Laboratory† Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A statistical model for verbal learning is presented and tested against experimental data. The model describes a Markov process with a realizable absorbing state, allowing complete learning on some finite trial as well as imperfect retention prior to this trial.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 1962 , pp. 141 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © 1962 The Psychometric Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

*

This work was carried out while the author was at Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

†

Operated with support from the U. S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.

References

Bruner, J. S., Miller, G. A., and Zimmerman, C. Discriminative skill and discriminative matching in perceptual recognition. J. exp. Psychol., 1955, 49, 187–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bush, R. R. and Estes, W. K. Studies in mathematical learning theory, Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1959.Google Scholar
Bush, R. R. and Mosteller, F. Stochastic models for learning, New York: Wiley, 1955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, R. R. and Mosteller, F. A comparison of eight models. In Bush, R. R. and Estes, W. K. (Eds.), Studies in mathematical learning theory, Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1959.Google Scholar
Estes, W. K. New developments in statistical behavior theory: differential tests of axioms for associative learning. Psychometrika, 1961, 26, 73–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. A. Finite Markov processes in psychology. Psychometrika, 1952, 17, 149–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G. A. and McGill, W. A statistical description of verbal learning. Psychometrika, 1952, 17, 369–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorndike, E. L. and Lorge, I. The teacher's word book of 3000 words, New York: Teachers College, Columbia Univ., 1955.Google Scholar
Waugh, N. C. Free versus serial recall. J. exp. Psychol., 1961. (In press).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

A correction has been issued for this article:

Erratum