Abstract:
An independent S design employing a distractor-type task was used to investigate release from proactive inhibition (PI) as a function of intertrial interval (ITI) in short-term memory (STM). Of specific interest was whether PI release was provided by shift in ITI length rather than a function of lengthening the ITI. Four groups were employed in this study. One group received short ITIs for 4 trials and then a long ITI for the next 2 trials; another group shifted from a long to short ITI, and two additional groups received constant ITIs throughout. It was found that neither lengthening ITI nor a shift in ITI length provided a release from PI. Implications concerning time as an organizational (clustering) factor in final recall were not substantiated.