Please read each of the following biographies carefully. You needn't study them, just read them. After you have read each one, go to the next one and DO NOT RETURN TO THE ONE'S YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY READ. On the memory test that follows, you will be given the name, age and occupation of people in the biographies below. Then you will be asked to recall other information in the biographies. Above each biography is a picture of the individual from a school yearbook.

Joshua Obert Randall is 40 years old. His family arrived in the US from Ireland at the time of the Civil War. They met and married people from Portugal, the Ukraine, Belarus, and Latvia. Joshua is a housing construction worker. He was a great hockey player. His wife is a nurse's aide.

Edward Rudolf Schmidt is 42 years old. His family came to the US from Germany in the Centennial Year, 1876. They married people from Russian, Greece, Kenya, and England. Edward is a salesman for a local shoe store. He was a great football half-back. His wife tends the gardens in their city's parks.

Richard Semore Parker is 37 years old. Family members came from  Portugal to the US in the 1820s. They married people from Scotland, The Ukraine, Finland, and  Denmark. Richard works in the physical plant of the local hospital. He was a great tennis player. His wife works cleaning hospital rooms.

Robert Hamlin Johansen is 39 years old. His family came to the US from Sweden in 1822 and married into families from Italy, Romania, Nigeria, Hungary, and England. Robert does heating and air-conditioning maintenance at a New England university. He was great track sprinter. Robert's wife as a secretary at the university.

Jason Thomas Chambers is 36 years old. His family immigrated to the US from Norway in 1880. They married into families from Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, and Romanian. Jason is a mail-room worker for a computer company. He was a great rugby player. His wife is a receptionist in a chiropractor's office.

James Geringer Volger is 57 years old. His relatives came to the US from Austria in 1795. During the 1800s they married people from Poland, Germany, the Central African Republic, and Finland. James drives road repair equipment for a highway maintenance company. He was a great basketball point guard. James' wife works for the cleaning service of a local school district.

Samuel Rinsen Atwater is 46 years old. His family came to the US from Italy in 1890. They married people from Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland and Greece. Samuel is a fork-lift driver in a warehouse owned by a major package delivery company. He was a great bowler. His wife works as a discount store stocker.

DO NOT RE-READ ANY OF THE BIOGRAPHIES ABOVE OR RETURN TO THIS PAGE. If you do re-read or return here, your responses will be invalidated and you will have wasted your time and that of the experimenter. Now please click the link below to go to the memory test.

Click here to go to the memory test.