Coordinate organization: The holistic representation of word pairs - eScholarship
George Mandler · 1991
Mandler, George, Coordinate organization: The holistic representation of word pairs , American Journal of Psychology, 94:2 (1981:June) p.209 AMERICAN J O U R N A L OF PSYCHOLOGY June 1981, Vol. 91, Nn. 2, pp. 209-222 © 1981 Hoard olTrustees of (he University of Illinois 0002-9550/8 l/0600-0209$0l ,40/0 Coordinate organization: The holistic representation of word pairs George Mandler Jan C. Rabinowitz Robert A. Simon University of California, San Diego Erindale College, University of Minnesota University of Toronto The proposition that the preferred mode of representing and storing word pairs is in a coordinate, holistic fashion was explored in free recall, cued recall, and recognition tests. Subjects were given randomly paired nouns and tested for free recall of whole pairs, cued recall of one member of a pair given the other member, and recognition of old and new pairs and single items. All three tests indicated that the originally presented pairs had been stored as coordinate, holistic units. The major part of free recall was of intact pairs, and additional analyses indicated that retrieval of one member of the pair implicates the retrieval of the intact pair. Recognition of old pairs also involves more than the recognition of their component members. The data are related to other results with the paired associate paradigm and to a more general view of different structures that may be used in the storage and retrieval of syntactically unrelated memory units. In a previous discussion of the types of organizational structures that are available for the organization of syntactically unstructured material, it was suggested that the preferred mode of structure for event pairs consists of a holistic, coordinate organization of the pair (Mandler, 1979a). The present paper explores the implications of that position for the acquisition of word pairs. After a hiatus of a decade or so, while free recall reigned supreme, the last half dozen years have seen a revival of interest in the acquisi- tion of event pairs. The paradigm has also undergone successive changes in name, as investigators have attempted to keep pace with changing fashions. What used to be called paired associate learning, using the designations of S and R to describe the members of the pair in the associationist tradition, then switched to the more neu- tral terms of A and B as associationism declined in popularity. The next step was the switch to the LC and TBR terminology, a step Copyright (c) 2000 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) University of Illinois Press