Selective reminding for analysis of memory and learning

A new and more appropriate paradigm for verbal learning is described and illustrated. Reminding a subject only of items not recalled on the immediately preceding trial, instead of presenting all items on each trial, shows retrieval from long-term storage when items are retrieved again without further presentation. This permits simultaneous analysis of long-term storage (LTS), retrieval from long-term storage (LTR), and recall from short-term storage (STR). Evaluating LTR in terms of items consistently retrieved on all subsequent trials (without further presentation) differentiates LTR into random and organized LTR, and also provides a measure of list learning for comparison with item learning. To illustrate the use of selective reminding for investigation of retrieval alone, an example is also presented of reminding only until first recall.