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Biomedical subjects

R W Engle

Publications and source records attributed to R W Engle.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Working memory and retrieval: a resource-dependent inhibition model.

Four experiments examined individual differences in working memory (WM) capacity and how those differences affect performance on retrieval from both primary and secondary memory. The results showed that WM differences appear only in retrieval from primary memory and then only under conditions that lead to interference or response competition within the task. This suggests that WM capacity is important to retrieval that is based on controlled effortful search but not search that is based on automatic activation. A view is presented suggesting that individual differences in attentional resources lead to differences in the ability to inhibit or suppress irrelevant information. The paradigm also allowed more general comparisons between the processes involved in retrieval from primary and secondary memory. As expected, it was found that retrieval from primary memory was a function of set size. However, for sets larger than 2 items, retrieval from secondary memory was independent of set size.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1993

Working-memory capacity as long-term memory activation: an individual-differences approach.

One explanation of the correlation often observed between working-memory span scores and reading comprehension is that individuals differ in level of activation available for long-term memory units. Two experiments used the fan manipulation to test this idea. In Experiment 1, high- and low-working-memory Ss learned a set of unrelated sentences varying in the number of shared concepts (fan) and then performed speeded recognition for those sentences. Low-working-memory Ss showed a larger increase in recognition time as fan increased. When the slope of the fan effect was partialed out of the relationship between working-memory span and verbal abilities, the relationship was reduced to nonsignificance. In Experiment 2, Ss learned thematically related sentences that varied in fan. Low-span Ss showed the positive fan effect typically found with thematically unrelated sentences, whereas high-span Ss showed a negative fan effect. The results are discussed in terms of a general capacity theory.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Individual differences in working memory and comprehension: a test of four hypotheses.

A relationship has consistently been found between measures of working memory and reading comprehension. Four hypotheses for this relationship were tested in 3 experiments. In the first 2 experiments, a moving window procedure was used to present the operation-word and reading span tasks. High- and low-span subjects did not differentially trade off time on the elements of the tasks and the to-be-remembered word. Furthermore, the correlation between span and comprehension was undiminished when the viewing times were partialed out. Experiment 3 compared a traditional experimenter-paced simple word-span and a subject-paced span in their relationship with comprehension. The experimenter-paced word-span correlated with comprehension but the subject-paced span did not. The results of all 3 experiments support a general capacity explanation for the relationship between working memory and comprehension.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Effects of same-modality interference on immediate serial recall of auditory and visual information.

Two studies investigated the effects of same-modality interference on the immediate serial recall of auditorily and visually presented stimuli. Typically, research in which this task is used has been conducted in quiet rooms, excluding auditory information that is extraneous to the auditorily presented stimuli. However, visual information such as background items clearly within the subject's view have not been excluded during visual presentation. Therefore, in both the present studies, the authors used procedures that eliminated extra-list visual interference and introduced extra-list auditory interference. When same-modality interference was eliminated, weak visual recency effects were found, but they were smaller than those that were generated by auditorily presented items. Further, mid-list and end-of-list recall of visually presented stimuli was unaffected by the amount of interfering visual information. On the other hand, the introduction of auditory interference increased mid-list recall of auditory stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the mid-list effect occurred with a moderate, but not with a minimal or maximal, level of auditory interference, indicating that moderate amounts of auditory interference had an alerting effect that is not present in typical visual interference.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1990

Suffix interference in the recall of linguistically coherent speech.

Four experiments are presented that address the stimulus suffix effect for linguistically coherent spoken materials. In Experiment 1, definitions of low-frequency words were presented for online written recall. Each definition was followed by a nonword speech suffix presented in the same voice as the definition, the same nonword presented in a different voice, or a tone. The results yielded a significant reduction in the recall of the terminal words of the definitions in the speech suffix conditions compared with the tone control. This general pattern was replicated in Experiment 2, in which subjects did not begin their recall until the suffix item or tone was presented, although the magnitude of the suffix effect was reduced in this experiment. In Experiment 3, sentences that were part of a cohesive story were presented for on-line recall. Here, the suffix effect was considerably reduced compared with the suffix effect found with the definitions presented in Experiments 1 and 2. This pattern was replicated in Experiment 4, in which subjects did not begin their recall of the story sentences until the speech suffix or tone was presented. Overall, the results suggest that auditory memory interference can take place for linguistically coherent speech, although the magnitude of the interference decreases as one increases the level of linguistic structure in the to-be-recalled materials. Implications of the present results for current models of natural language processing are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The influence of concurrent load on mouthed and vocalized modality effects.

A visual search task was coupled with the serial recall of words to assess the extent to which modality effects mediated by vocalizing and silent mouthing reflect an automatically activated preattentive process. Overall, serial position functions systematically changed as concurrent task demands increased, but the magnitude of the modality effect associated with both mouthing and vocalizing was not altered, regardless of whether or not subjects simultaneously searched for digits. These results support the notion that modality effects index a preattentive process that can be activated automatically by either spoken input or gestural cues associated with speech.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Echoic memory processes in good and poor readers.

Four experiments were conducted to determine whether echoic memory plays a role in differences between good and poor readers. The first two experiments used a suffix procedure in which the subject is read a list of digits with either a tone control or the word go appended to the list. For lists that exceeded the length of the subjects memory span by one digit (i.e., that avoided ceiling effects), the poor readers showed a larger decrement in the suffix condition than did the good readers. The third experiment was directed at the question of whether the duration of echoic memory is different for good and poor readers. Children shadowed words presented to one ear at a rate determined to give 75-85% shadowing accuracy. The items presented to the nonattended ear were words and an occasional digit. At various intervals after the presentation of the digit, a light signaled that the subject was to cease shadowing and attempt to recall any digit that had occurred in the nonattended ear recently. Whereas good and poor readers recalled the digit equally if tested immediately after presentation, the poor readers showed a faster decline in recall of the digit as retention interval increased. A fourth experiment was conducted to determine whether the differences in echoic memory were specific to speech stimuli or occurred at a more basic level of aural persistence. Bursts of white noise were separated by 9-400 ms of silence and the subject was to say whether there were one or two sounds presented. There were no differences in detectability functions for good and poor readers.

Attention↗
PubMed1980

Recent advances in mnemonic strategy training with mentally retarded persons: implications for educational practice.

A portion of the empirical literature on training mentally retarded people to use mnemonic strategies was reviewed. Specific topics examined included strategy maintenance, strategy generalization, and metamemory, with emphasis on the implications of this research for the education of retarded students. We concluded that although significant gains have resulted from the past two decades of research, many questions of educational significance remain unanswered. With the restrictions placed by recent research in mind, we suggested that this area can be of immediate benefit to special educators.

Cues↗
PubMed1977

Effects of modality of presentation on delayed recognition.

Auditorily and visually presented lists were either tested or not tested immediately after input and were later tested on a delayed recognition test. For those lists given the immediate free-recall test, auditory presentation was superior on this immediate test. On the delayed recognition test the tested lists led to higher performance than non-tested lists. For tested lists auditory presentation led to superior recognition for the terminal serial positions, while for non-tested lists visual presentation led to higher performance on the last few positions. The fact that modality of presentation had opposite effects on delayed recognition of the lists was discussed in terms of current models of modality effects.

Auditory Perception↗