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Effects of same-category and different-category extraneous memory sets on item recognition.

In a study designed to distinguish between parallel and serial models of performance on Sternberg's item recognition task, Krueger (1975) presented subjects with a memory set (the "added" set) followed by a second ("core") set, a probe to the core set, and finally a probe to the added set. Response latency (RT) to both the core- and added-set probes initially increased with the size of the extraneous set. Over successive blocks of trials, the effect of the size of the extraneous set diminished. In Experiment 1 of the present study, Krueger's basic procedures were replicated with results similar to those he reported for early trials. Experiment 2 was a variation on the added-set procedure. Rather than the memory sets' being drawn from different categories (letters and digits), both sets consisted of digits. On half of the negative trials for both the core and the added tasks, the probe was drawn from the extraneous set, forcing the subjects to separate the two sets. Although RT on the core task did not increase with the size of the added set, there was an increase in RT to the added set with increases in core-set size, a finding inconsistent with the serial search model.

Adolescent↗

Enhanced recency effects with changing-state and primary-linguistic stimuli.

A number of explanations for the modality effect in immediate serial recall have been proposed. The auditory advantage for recall of recency items has been explained in terms of (1) the contributions of precategorical acoustic storage (PAS), (2) an advantage of changing-state over static stimuli, and (3) an advantage of primary-linguistic coding. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate these hypotheses. In the first, subjects viewed seven consecutive rectangles of different colors on a computer monitor. A small recency effect was obtained when the task was to recall the colors of the rectangles in order, with the size of the effect being independent of whether the rectangles remained stationary on the screen or moved in one of four directions. However, when the task was to recall the direction of movement of the rectangles, a larger recency effect was found. This pattern of results was interpreted as suggesting that recency effects are enhanced by changing-state stimulus information, but only when the changing-state information serves to identify the stimulus. Experiments 2 and 3 provided converging evidence by demonstrating an analogous recency advantage for changing-state visual stimuli that were somewhat different from those of Experiment 1. Experiment 4 demonstrated recency effects with synthesized speech stimuli that were substantially greater than were those found with the changing-state visual stimuli of the first three experiments. Implications of the results for the PAS, changing-state, and primary-linguistic hypotheses, as well as temporal-distinctiveness theories of recency, are discussed.

Color Perception↗

Multiple mechanisms for recency with vowels and consonants.

Three experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the difference in recency effect between vowel-contrasting and stop-contrasting lists of syllables in immediate ordered recall can be explained by item discriminability and regular short-term memory mechanisms, without any recourse to echoic memory or precategorical acoustic storage (PAS). In Experiment 1, the short-term memory mechanisms were manipulated by reducing amount of output interference and length of retention interval. The partial-report technique was used. The most important finding was the usual final-position recency effect (difference in recall between the fifth and sixth serial positions) for the vowel lists but not for the stop lists, regardless of the type of report. Thus the PAS theory could not be rejected. In Experiments 2 and 3, the last item was differentiated from the other items of the list, either by lengthening the interstimulus interval between the last and the next-to-last (Experiment 2) or by increasing the intensity of the last item (Experiment 3). In both cases, an increase of the final-position recency effect was found even for stop lists. Since a drop in recall errors was also obtained for the fourth item when its intensity was increased (von Restorff effect), this final-position recency effect for stop lists is likely to be due to item discriminability, and not to echoic memory for the last item. Item discriminability appeared to be the critical factor.

Discrimination, Psychological↗

Serial recall of two-voice lists: implications for theories of auditory recency and suffix effects.

Substantial recency effects are found in immediate serial recall of auditory items. These recency effects are greatly reduced when an irrelevant auditory stimulus (a stimulus suffix) is presented. A number of accounts that have been proposed to explain these phenomena assume that auditory items are susceptible to masking or overwriting in memory. Later items overwrite earlier items, leading to an advantage for the last item, unless it is masked by a suffix. This assumption is called into question by evidence that presenting list items in two voices has no beneficial effect in immediate serial recall. In addition, it is shown that suffix effects on both terminal and preterminal list items are influenced by the physical similarity of the suffix to the terminal item and not by the physical similarity of the suffix to preterminal items.

Adult↗

Temporal coding in rhythm tasks revealed by modality effects.

Temporal coding has been studied by examining the perception and reproduction of rhythms and by examining memory for the order of events in a list. We attempt to link these research programs both empirically and theoretically. Glenberg and Swanson (1986) proposed that the superior recall of auditory material, compared with visual material, reflects more accurate temporal coding for the auditory material. In this paper, we demonstrate that a similar modality effect can be produced in a rhythm task. Auditory rhythms composed of stimuli of two durations are reproduced more accurately than are visual rhythms. Furthermore, it appears that the auditory superiority reflects enhanced chunking of the auditory material rather than better identification of durations.

Attention↗

Effects of word length on young children's memory performance.

The standard working model that accounts for word length effects in young children has been questioned. This study explored two hypotheses suggested by Gathercole and Hitch (1993). In three experiments with serial recall tasks, the word presentation interval was adjusted so that participants could repeat both long and short words subvocally the same number of times in the intervals between the words presented. As a result, among children from 3 to 6 years of age, the word length effect was significantly reduced, whereas the same manipulation of the word presentation interval did not affect the word length effect in adults. These results suggest that the word length effects in young children reflect the process of retaining auditory information in the interval between presentations as well as readout of the phonological representation.

Adult↗

On the relative and absolute strength of a memory trace.

Subjects studied either an 8- or 16-word list and later recalled the items while a voice key recorded each response latency. The trials were partitioned by recall total in order to examine the means and distributions of both latencies and interresponse times as a function of recall total. Each analysis was consistent with the view that an item's absolute strength determines whether it is recalled whereas an item's relative strength determines when it is recalled. In addition, mean latency was effectively proportional to study list length yet independent of recall total. All of the analyses were consistent with the view that the set of study items is sampled according to a relative-strength rule until all items are found and that a sampled item is recovered into consciousness only when its absolute strength exceeds a fixed threshold.

Adult↗

Modality, concreteness, and set-size effects in a free reconstruction of order task.

Would informing subjects which items were presented on the current list remove effects of presentation modality, concreteness, and set size in a long-term free reconstruction of order task? In Experiment 1, a typical modality effect was found: memory for the final item in a list was enhanced when the item was presented auditorily rather than visually. In Experiment 2, order memory was better for concrete than for abstract items. And in Experiment 3, order memory was better when the same six items were presented on every trial than when a unique set of six items was presented. In all conditions in all experiments, the to-be-remembered items were given to the subject at test. These results suggest that contrary to a popular assumption, the reconstruction of order task does not provide a functionally pure measure of order memory.

Analysis of Variance↗

Recall of short word lists presented visually at fast rates: effects of phonological similarity and word length.

Phonological similarity of visually presented list items impairs short-term serial recall. Lists of long words are also recalled less accurately than are lists of short words. These results have been attributed to phonological recoding and rehearsal. If subjects articulate irrelevant words during list presentation, both phonological similarity and word length effects are abolished. Experiments 1 and 2 examined effects of phonological similarity and recall instructions on recall of lists shown at fast rates (from one item per 0.114-0.50 sec), which might not permit phonological encoding and rehearsal. In Experiment 3, recall instructions and word length were manipulated using fast presentation rates. Both phonological similarity and word length effects were observed, and they were not dependent on recall instructions. Experiments 4 and 5 investigated the effects of irrelevant concurrent articulation on lists shown at fast rates. Both phonological similarity and word length effects were removed by concurrent articulation, as they were with slow presentation rates.

Adult↗

Effect of normal aging on the manipulation of information in working memory.

The goal of this study is to examine the central executive of working memory in normal aging, specifically focusing on its capacities to manipulate or modify the format of the to-be-recalled material. The central executive was measured with the alphabetical span procedure, during which subjects were asked to recall a random series of words in their alphabetical order. The storage demand was equalized across subjects by adjusting the list lengths according to individual span. Experiments 1, 2, and 3 showed that elderly subjects were not impaired in manipulating information, relative to young controls, even when the difficulty of the task was increased. In Experiment 4, validity was tested by asking young subjects to perform the task under the conditions of full or divided attention. Alphabetical recall was more impaired than direct recall during the divided attention condition, which suggests a larger involvement of the central executive component in the former. These results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis of a central executive impairment being associated with normal aging.

Adult↗

Verbal and visuospatial short-term memory in children: evidence for common and distinct mechanisms.

This study was designed to identify whether verbal and visuospatial short-term memory performance in children is served by common or distinct mechanisms. Five- and 8-year-old children were tested on their verbal recall of spoken letter names and digits, and on their recall of tapped sequences of blocks. The performance of the children on the verbal and visuospatial serial recall tasks was largely unrelated, extending evidence for dissociable memory systems found in adults. Detailed characteristics of recall, such as serial position functions, migration patterns, and distribution of error types, were similar in the tasks requiring recall of letters and of blocks, although order errors predominated in the block but not the letter recall task for the older children. These results appear to reflect the application of common processes specialized for the extraction of serial order information from the phonological and visuospatial components of short-term memory.

Adult↗

A partial matching theory of the mirror effect in immediate probed recognition.

A set of experiments on immediate probed recognition of digit triples is reported in which the variables were list length (five, six, seven, or eight triples), the probability that a probe was old (.33, .5, or .67), and whether the digit triples were presented with an auditory component or articulatory suppression. Previous work had suggested that the false alarm (FA) rate in this paradigm was lower when auditory information was available than when it was not; this observation had led to the development of the partial matching theory of immediate probed recognition, according to which FAs could arise not only as a result of unlucky guesses but also when new probes shared a first digit in common with a partially retained target triple. It was argued that partial memory representations were less likely following auditory presentation than following articulatory suppression. Partial matching theory is contrasted with the rational response theory, according to which all FAs are unlucky guesses; partial matching theory gave a better account of the present experimental data than did rational response theory. However, a logical relationship between the two theories was suggested, a consequence of which was that rational response theory could be modified to include partial matching in such a way as to account for mirror effects, not only in unusually difficult immediate probed recognition tasks, but also in the more commonly studied mixed test list paradigm involving words of high or low frequency.

Adult↗

The importance of semantic similarity to the irrelevant speech effect.

Irrelevant speech disrupts immediate recall of a short sequence of items. Salamé and Baddeley (1982) found a very small and nonsignificant increase in the irrelevant speech effect when the speech comprised items semantically identical to the to-be-remembered items, leading subsequent researchers to conclude that semantic similarity plays no role in the irrelevant speech effect. Experiment 1 showed that strong free associates of the to-be-remembered items disrupted serial recall to a greater extent than words that were dissimilar to the to-be-remembered items. Experiment 2 showed that this same pattern of disruption in a free recall task. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗