Examining Effect of Attention on Short-term Memory Recall of Arabic Abstract and Concrete Words Using Free, Cued, and Serial Recall Paradigms

To see if there is a correlation between attention and short-term memory recall and to examine attention as a factor affecting memory recall of Arabic and abstract words through free, cued, and serial recall paradigms. Methods: Four groups of undergraduates in King Saud University, Saudi Arabia participated in this study. The first group consisted of 9 undergraduates who were trained to perform three types of recall for 20 Arabic abstract and concrete words. The second, third and fourth groups consisted of 27 undergraduates where each group members were trained only to perform one recall type: free recall, cued recall and serial recall respectively. Attention level was the independent variable and number of recalled abstract and concrete words was the deponent variable. The used materials in this study were: abstract and concrete words classification form based on four factors was distributed to the participants (concreteness, image ability, meaningfulness, and age of acquisition), three oral recall forms, three written recall forms, and observation sheets for each type of recall. Three methods were used: auditory, visual, and written methods. Results: A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationship between the paid attentional efforts (concentration) and short-term memory recall (recalled Arabic abstract and concrete words). There was a positive correlation between the two variables, r = 0.713, n = 440, p = 0.000, with R2 = .508. Overall, there was a moderate, positive correlation between attentional efforts and short-memory recall. Conclusions: Increases and decreases in paid attentional efforts were correlated with increases and decreases in retrievable and non-retrievable Arabic abstract and concrete words (short-term memory recall).