How Integrated is Memory for Semantically Related Sentences?

Summary

Theorists currently question the interpretation of effects which Bransford and Franks claim are indicants of holistic representational structures. Background stories and/or topically blocked presentations were given to 80 male and female undergraduates whose task was to recall semantically related sentences. Stories and blocked presentation facilitated recall and topical clustering. Measures of semantic integration developed by Bransford and Franks were largely unaffected by the manipulations. Results showed that topical clustering is an appropriate measure of interconnectedness of representations, and that semantically related sentences require background schemas or topical organization to facilitate integration of representations. Results support the notion that the sentences in the Bransford and Franks linguistic integration paradigm are not as integrated as was previously believed.