Effects of Generation on Immediate Memory Span and Delayed Unexpected Free Recall

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Schweickert ◽  
Mark A. McDaniel ◽  
Gregory Riegler
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Multiplicative Effects

We investigated the effects of generating words from fragments on pronunciation time, on immediate memory span, and on delayed free recall. Subjects read long words and short words aloud or generated them from strings with missing letters. Word-length and generation condition had multiplicative effects on speaking rate, as expected if each affected a separate process regulating the rate. We replicated the standard finding that span is smaller for longer words. Generation improved delayed free recall, indicating that relatively brief presentation times are adequate to produce a generation effect. Although generation improved long-term memory for the words, memory span was shorter for the words that were generated. The harmful effect of generation on span appears to be due to its slowing of speaking rate.

Long-term memory span

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
James S. Nairne ◽  
Ian Neath
Keyword(s):  
Memory Span ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Single Experiment ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Capacity Limits ◽  
Magical Number ◽  
Capacity Limit

Cowan assumes that chunk-based capacity limits are synonymous with the essence of a “specialized STM mechanism.” In a single experiment, we measured the capacity, or span, of long-term memory and found that it, too, corresponds roughly to the magical number 4. The results imply that a chunk-based capacity limit is not a signature characteristic of remembering over the short-term.

Memory for Related and Unrelated Words: Further Evidence on the Influence of Semantic Factors in Immediate Serial Recall

1995 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Poirier ◽  
Jean Saint-Aubin
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Articulatory Suppression ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Semantic Category ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Homogeneous Condition ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall

A number of recent studies have explored the role of long-term memory factors in memory span tasks. The effects of lexicality, frequency, imageability, and word class have been investigated. The work reported in this paper examined the effect of semantic organization on the recall of short lists of words. Specifically, the influence of semantic category on immediate serial recall and the interaction of this variable with articulatory suppression was investigated in three experiments. Experiment 1 compared immediate serial recall performance when lists comprising items from the same semantic category were used (homogeneous condition) with a situation where lists held items from different semantic categories. Experiment 2 examined the same conditions with and without articulatory suppression during item presentation, and Experiment 3 reproduced these conditions with suppression occurring throughout presentation and recall. Results of all three experiments showed a clear advantage for the homogeneous condition. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the homogeneous category advantage did not depend on the articulatory loop. Furthermore, error analysis indicated that this effect was mainly attributable to better item information recall for the homogeneous condition. These results are interpreted as reflecting a long-term memory contribution to the recall stage of immediate serial recall tasks.

The Influence of Acoustic and Semantic Similarity on Long-term Memory for Word Sequences

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Word List ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Learning Score

It has been shown that short-term memory (STM) for word sequences is grossly impaired when acoustically similar words are used, but is relatively unaffected by semantic similarity. This study tests the hypothesis that long-term memory (LTM) will be similarly affected. In Experiment I subjects attempted to learn one of four lists of 10 words. The lists comprised either acoustically or semantically similar words (A and C) or control words of equal frequency (B and D). Lists were learned for four trials, after which subjects spent 20 min. on a task involving immediate memory for digits. They were then asked to recall the word list. The acoustically similar list was learned relatively slowly, but unlike the other three lists showed no forgetting. Experiment II showed that this latter paradox can be explained by assuming the learning score to depend on both LTM and STM, whereas the subsequent retest depends only on LTM. Experiment III repeats Experiment I but attempts to minimize the effects of STM during learning by interposing a task to prevent rehearsal between the presentation and testing of the word sequences. Unlike STM, LTM proved to be impaired by semantic similarity but not by acoustic similarity. It is concluded that STM and LTM employ different coding systems.

scholarly journals Word length effects in long-term memory

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Tehan ◽  
Georgina Anne Tolan
Keyword(s):  
Word Length ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Length Effects

Patterns of verbal learning and memory in traumatic brain injury

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 574-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLENN CURTISS ◽  
RODNEY D. VANDERPLOEG ◽  
JAN SPENCER ◽  
ANDRES M. SALAZAR
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Central Executive ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Memory Processes

CVLT and WMS–R Digit Span variables were used to calculate indexes of seven specific short- and long-term memory processes: working memory span and central executive functions, and long-term memory encoding, consolidation, retention, retrieval, control abilities. Scores on these indexes were then cluster-analyzed to determine whether subtypes of memory performance exist that correspond to deficits in these theoretical memory constructs. Parallel analyses were conducted with two large samples (N = 150 and N = 151) of individuals who had sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Findings showed that TBI results in subgroups of memory disorders with specific deficits in consolidation, retention, and retrieval processes. Control problems (keeping track of list versus non-list items) only appeared in conjunction with retrieval deficits. Working memory span and central executive functioning (i.e., the ability to manipulate information in working memory) do not appear to be deficits characteristic of TBI as no such clusters emerged in the analyses. By using specific indexes of memory processes, and in contrast to previous studies, patterns of memory dysfunction were found that correspond to deficits in theoretically meaningful memory constructs. (JINS, 2001, 7, 574–585.)

Representations of Individuals and the Processing of Reference Change

1992 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Stenning ◽  
Alexander W.R. Nelson ◽  
Joe Levy ◽  
Mukesh J. Patel ◽  
Martin Gemmell
Keyword(s):  
Word Length ◽  
Processing Time ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Distributed Information ◽  
Length Effects

Stenning, Shepherd, and Levy (1988) showed that when simple texts switch reference predictably between individuals, changes of reference neither cost reading time nor degrade memory performance. The present experiments examine the effects of unpredictable referential change. Experiment 1 demonstrates that unpredictable reference change does cost processing time, as a function of the amount known about the referent to which attention shifts. Analysis reveals a distinction between primary and secondary individuals related to referential change. It also reveals word-length effects, both decelerations and accelerations proportional to description length, which are interpreted in terms of use of the articulatory loop (Baddeley, 1986). Experiment 1 reveals involvement of primary/secondary status in the process of switching reference and shows that the word-length effects cannot be interpreted in terms of frequency. Experiment 2 strengthens support for the primary/secondary distinction and confirms the use of the articulatory loop. The present results suggest a central role for distributed information about sequence in representing complex semantic structures both in immediate and in long-term memory. Predictable switching costs no time because the transparency of the relation between surface sequence and underlying semantic structure is preserved. The distinction between primary and secondary individuals emerges with unpredictable reference because it restores this transparency.

Long-Term Memory for 400 Pictures on a Common Theme

2007 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 298-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stine Vogt ◽  
Svein Magnussen
Keyword(s):  
Memory Performance ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Study Phase ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Common Motif ◽  
Extraneous Information ◽  
Original Photographs ◽  
Retention Intervals

Abstract. Long-term memory for large numbers of color photographs with a common motif - doors - was studied using pictures with two levels of informative cues: original photographs, and edited pictures in which extraneous information on details such as vegetation, paint scratches, signs, and lamp posts was removed. In the study phase, subjects viewed 400 pictures and were subsequently tested for memory on two-alternative forced-choice discriminations between studied and distracter pictures from the same picture category, at retention intervals between 0.5 h and 9 days. When tested with the nonedited original photographs immediate memory performance was close to 85% correct; when pictorial details were removed memory performance dropped by 20%. The decay functions were shallow with parallel paths for the categories of pictures. It is concluded that specific details of visual scenes contributed to long-term memory of those scenes.

Lexical influences on nonword repetition

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Dollaghan ◽  
Maureen E. Biber ◽  
Thomas F. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Memory Span ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Immediate Memory ◽  
Normally Achieving ◽  
Lexical Sequences

ABSTRACTThe present investigation explores the hypothesis that lexical information influences performance on nonword repetition tasks. The subjects – 30 normally achieving, school-aged boys – repeated multisyllabic nonword pairs, constructed to vary only in the lexicality of their constituent stressed syllables. Nonwords with stressed syllables corresponding to real words were repeated significantly more accurately than nonwords with non-lexical stressed syllables; stressed syllable lexicality primarily influenced repetition of the remaining unstressed syllables. Subsequent analyses revealed that the overwhelming majority of repetition errors operated to transform non-lexical sequences into real words, even when doing so violated both strong acoustic cues and articulatory ease. We conclude that lexical long-term memory information intrudes on nonword repetition performance, including stimuli that are within the limits of immediate memory span. These results suggest a number of caveats concerning the construction and interpretation of nonword repetition tasks and raise questions about the role of such tasks in assessing phonological working memory.

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