SEX DIFFERENCES ON MOBILIZING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ON FREE RECALL

This study examined sex differences on mobilizing prior knowledge on free recall Sixty subjects aged between 19 and 26 years (30 boys and 30 girls) participated in the study. The testing session lasted for 30 minutes and subjects were tested individually. Subjects in the experimental group (the president group) were told to generate as many names of Nigerian presidents as they could remember. The names of 15 Nigerian presidents were later given to them. They were given a distraction test for 20 minutes after which they were told to recall the names they generated themselves and the president names given to them. The control group was told to name musicians after which they received the names of 15 Nigerian presidents and the distraction test given to the experimental group. This was followed by recall test. The results showed that the main effect of group (experimental group performed better than control). There was a significant effect of sex (Boys performed better than girls); and subjects were able to recall the lists they generated themselves better than the list given to them. The research therefore suggests that mobilizing prior knowledge on free recall have effect on groups (experimental and control group) and sex. (Boys performed better than boys).