Recall of a Word List after Interpolated Reading

The study investigated the effects of natural language activity on the retention of a word list. After learning a paired-associate list of high-frequency words, subjects in a control group engaged in a pattern-selection task while subjects in three experimental groups read descriptive materials. Half of the words from the list were embedded in the reading material. Accuracy and latency of recall of the word list was measured 21 min. after the end of original learning. There was no difference between groups in the number of words correctly recalled; in all three experimental groups, however, there was a significant increase in the latency of recall of responses only for pairs which had been embedded in the interpolated reading material. The conclusion is that natural language activity can have specific interfering effects on the recall of a word list.