本研究は,多試行自由再生事態で材料文間の接続関係明示の多少と演緯的推理能力との関連を発達的に検討したものである。小学校5年生40名と中学校1年生35名の被験者は接多群(文問に6つの接続関係をあらわす語を含む7文を記銘する群)と接小群(文問に2つの接続関係をあらわす語を含む7文を記銘する群)とにそれぞれ分けられた。物語構造をもった7文は,ランダムな順序で5回提示され,毎回自由再生が求められた。その後,原文章を復元できるかどうかを調べるために文順序配列テストが実施された。ついで,石田(1978.1980)による推理能力テストが施行された。結果は以下のとおりであった。1)(a)文順序配列テストでは各群12名ずつ計48名が正解した。

This study was carried out in order to investigate the developmental trends of the relationship between the content structure of prose and the inferential abilities by using a multiple free recall paradigm. Forty fifth graders of an elementary school and thirty-five first graders of a junior high school learned seven sentences which originally formed a story under two conditions : with conjunctives (W condition)and without conjunctives(WO condition) . In the W condition six conjunctive words were presented alongwith the seven sentences, while in the WO condition only two conjunctives were used. The seven sentences were presented five times to the subjects after each subject be notified randomly in each presentation. After each presentation a sentence memory test was given to the subjects. The subjects were required to recall the sentences in a free recall paradigm.