The role of overt motor rehearsal in kinesthetic recall

Short-term kinesthetic retention was measured with a lever response under immediate recall, rest, and motor rehearsal conditions. Motor rehearsal consisted of having S overtly replicate a target location during the retention interval. Both delayed retention interval conditions were significantly different from immediate recall. The 20 sec rest interval condition exhibited substantial negative error. Rehearsal activity substantially shifted the recall errors in a positive direction and caused increases in variable error. The results were interpreted as supporting the position that the memory trace fades along the dimension of movement extent and that the trace can be shifted in a positive direction by interpolated overt rehearsal.