The relation of several factors to factual memory

Abstract

This is an investigation of the relation of chronological age, mental level, silent reading ability, and vocabulary knowledge to the ability of junior and senior high school pupils to remember the facts contained in short articles which they are required to read a single time. Findings show that factual memory improves very little with age during the years after adolescence. Factual memory is positively correlated with mental age to an extent shown by an average of r of .53 for immediate memory, .43 for memory after one day, .51 for memory after 14 days, .45 for memory after 30 days, and .25 for memory after 100 days. The correlation between factual memory and mental age is reduced to about half when vocabulary is held constant, and by about one-fourth when reading ability is held constant. Memory for facts is positively correlated with extent of vocabulary to about the same degree as mental age. The low correlations found between factual memory and reading ability are reduced to negligible quantities by keeping mental age and vocabulary knowledge constant. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)