| The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of semantic cues provided at encoding and during retention for older adults' memory. For a word list and a story, participants received semantic or nonsemantic cues that were varied across groups at encoding and during the retention interval. For the word list, provision of a semantic cue at encoding led to greater semantic clustering at learning, but not increased recall performance. Providing a semantic cue during the retention interval led to better delayed free recall and greater semantic clustering. No group differences in recall or semantic clustering were found at delayed cued recall. For the story, providing the semantic cue did not lead to increased recall of details or thematic units. The current findings suggest that semantic cues can be beneficial for recalling unstructured information when administered during the retention interval. |
