AbstractInvestigation of verbal learning by repeated attempts to recall all of the items in a list (in any order), without any further presentation of items that have been recalled once, allows spontaneous retrieval to demonstrate previous storage (on or before the last presentation of an item) and subsequent retention (despite any recall failures), in addition to showing the spontaneous increase of recall without further presentation. Spontaneous retrieval from long‐term storage does not improve prior to the abrupt onset of perfectly consistent retrieval, indicating that random and consistent retrieval represent different stages of (item and list) learning and that recall increases during verbal learning because more items reach the stage of consistent retrieval (list learning). This amplifies the analysis of verbal learning in terms of storage for random retrieval (item learning), random retrieval, initial storage for consistent retrieval (initial list learning), and additional list learning (as consistent retrieval replaces random retrieval).