Organization of Free Recall Using Specialized Content.

The organizational factors in memory relevant to learning medical diagnosis terms are discussed in this paper. Two hypotheses are tested: that the type of list organization will affect total recall; and that the type of curriculum and year in school will affect the organization of recall. Ninety-six second and third year medical students from two different curricula were given five trials at memorizing a list of medical terms which were organized according to three different schemes, according to diseases, according to organ systems, and randomly. The results of the data analysis indicated that none of the hypotheses tested were confirmed. There was an overall tendency of the subjects to prefer the use of the organ systems category scheme. (Author/MKM)