Effects of test expectancy (recall vs. recognition) on children’s recall and recognition

Studied are "the nature & development of memory encoding strategies for free recall vs recognition of familiar, relatively unrelated nouns." Ss were 48 third & 48 sixth graders. Following practice lists for recall & recognition, they were given a third test, expected by 50% to be recall & by 50% recognition. Ss were then given a recall test followed by a recognition test. Recall by sixth graders was better when a recall rather than a recognition test was expected. Text expectancy did not affect the recall of third graders, nor did it apparently affect recognition at either grade level. Self-reports indicate greater preexperimental understanding of task difficulty differences at grade six. At grade six but not at grade three, reports of rehearsal of items in blocks (rather than single-item repetition) were more frequent when a recall test was expected & reports of image production were more frequent when a recognition test was expected. 1 Table, 1 Figure. Modified HA