Motivational Factors in Short-Term Retention: II. Rehearsal or Arousal?

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Abstract
Two experiments which investigate the effects of motivation on memory are reported. In the initial study it was demonstrated that recall instrumental to shock avoidance enhances short-term retention. By varying the difficulty of the task interpolated between stimulus onset and recall it was established that the augmented recall is not mediated by covert rehearsal. In Exp. II the motivational information (arousal) occurred at 1, 3, or 5 sec. after stimulus and response offset. Arousal after the stimulus and response terms facilitated immediate recall, although there were no significant differences in retention as a function of the time of the motivational input. The effects of arousal on retention and the relationship of motivation to trace storage and trace retrieval were discussed.

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