Unchained Memory: Error Patterns Rule out Chaining Models of Immediate Serial Recall

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. A. Henson ◽  
Dennis G. Norris ◽  
Michael P. A. Page ◽  
Alan D. Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Serial Position ◽  
Serial Recall ◽  
Alternative Model ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Memory Error ◽  
Locality Constraint ◽  
Serial Position Curves ◽  
Rule Out

Many models of serial recall assume a chaining mechanism whereby each item associatively evokes the next in sequence. Chaining predicts that, when sequences comprise alternating confusable and non-confusable items, confusable items should increase the probability of errors in recall of following non-confusable items. Two experiments using visual presentation and one using vocalized presentation test this prediction and demonstrate that: (1) more errors occur in recall of confusable than alternated non-confusable items, revealing a “sawtooth” in serial position curves; (2) the presence of confusable items often has no influence on recall of the non-confusable items; and (3) the confusability of items does not affect the type of errors that follow them. These results are inconsistent with the chaining hypothesis. Further analysis of errors shows that most transpositions occur over short distances (the locality constraint), confusable items tend to interchange (the similarity constraint), and repeated responses are rare and far apart (the repetition constraint). The complete pattern of errors presents problems for most current models of serial recall, whether or not they employ chaining. An alternative model is described that is consistent with these constraints and that simulates the detailed pattern of errors observed.

Unchained Memory: Error Patterns Rule out Chaining Models of Immediate Serial Recall

1996 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. A. Henson ◽  
Dennis G. Norris ◽  
Michael P. A. Page ◽  
Alan D. Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Memory Error ◽  
Rule Out

Short Article: Do Updating Tasks Involve Updating? Evidence from Comparisons with Immediate Serial Recall

2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Palladino ◽  
Christopher Jarrold
Keyword(s):  
Serial Position ◽  
Serial Recall ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Short Article ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Serial Position Effects ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Cast Doubt ◽  
Serial Position Curves

Updating tasks require participants to process a sequence of items, varying in length, and afterwards to remember only a fixed number of the elements of the sequence; the assumption being that participants actively update the to-be-recalled list as presentation progresses. However recent evidence has cast doubt on this assumption, and the present study examined the strategies that participants employ in such tasks by comparing the serial position curves found in verbal and visuo-spatial updating tasks with those seen in standard serial recall tasks. These comparisons showed that even when the same number of items are presented or recalled, participants perform less well in an updating than a serial recall context. In addition, while standard serial position effects were observed for serial recall, marked recency and reduced or absent primacy effects were seen in updating conditions. These findings suggest that participants do not typically adopt a strategy of actively updating the memory list in updating tasks, but instead tend to wait passively until the list ends before trying to recall the most recently presented items.

The Word-Length Effect in Probed and Serial Recall

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Avons ◽  
K. L. Wright ◽  
Kristen Pammer
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Recency Effect ◽  
Auditory Presentation ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Encoding Strategies ◽  
Serial Position Curves

The word-length effect in immediate serial recall has been explained as the possible consequence of rehearsal processes or of output processes. In the first experiment adult subjects heard lists of five long or short words while engaging in articulatory suppression during presentation. Full serial recall or probed recall for a single item followed the list either immediately or after a 5-second delay to encourage rehearsal. The word-length effect was not influenced by recall delay, but was much smaller in probed than in serial recall. Examination of the serial position curves suggested that this might be due to a recency component operating in probed recall. Experiment 2 confirmed a word-length-insensitive recency effect in probed recall and showed that this was resistant to an auditory suffix, unlike the small recency effect found in serial recall. Experiment 3 used visual presentation without concurrent articulation. Under these conditions there was no recency effect for either recall method, but the word-length effect was again much smaller in probed than in serial recall. This was confirmed in Experiment 4, in which the presentation of serial and probed recall was randomized across trials, showing that the differences between recall methods could not be due to encoding strategies. We conclude that for visual presentation, at least part of the word-length effect originates in output processes. For auditory presentation the position is less clear, as serial and probed recall appear to draw on different resources. The nature of the output processes that may give rise to word-length effects is discussed.

Inverting the modality effect in serial recall

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Philip Beaman
Keyword(s):  
Serial Position ◽  
Serial Recall ◽  
Serial Position Curve ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Verbal Material ◽  
Modality Effect ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall

Differences in recall ability between immediate serial recall of auditorily and visually presented verbal material have traditionally been considered restricted to the end of to-be-recalled lists, the recency section of the serial position curve (e.g., Crowder & Morton, 1969). Later studies showed that—under certain circumstances–differences in recall between the two modalities can be observed across the whole of the list (Frankish, 1985). However in all these studies the advantage observed is for recall of material presented in the auditorily modality. Six separate conditions across four experiments demonstrate that a visual advantage can be obtained with serial recall if participants are required to recall the list in two distinct sections using serial recall. Judged on a list-wide basis, the visual advantage is of equivalent size to the auditory advantage of the classical modality effect. The results demonstrate that differences in representation of auditory and visual verbal material in short-term memory persist beyond lexical and phonological categorization and are problematic for current theories of the modality effect.

scholarly journals Exploring the sentence advantage in working memory: Insights from serial recall and recognition

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 2571-2585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J Allen ◽  
Graham J Hitch ◽  
Alan D Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Superiority Effect ◽  
Recall Accuracy ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Storage And Retrieval ◽  
Accuracy Order ◽  
Response Task ◽  
Omission Errors

Immediate serial recall of sentences has been shown to be superior to that of unrelated words. This study was designed to further explore how this effect might emerge in recall and to establish whether it also extends to serial recognition, a different form of response task that has relatively reduced output requirements. Using auditory or visual presentation of sequences, we found a substantial advantage for sentences over lists in serial recall, an effect shown on measures of recall accuracy, order, intrusion, and omission errors and reflected in transposition gradients. In contrast however, recognition memory based on a standard change detection paradigm gave only weak and inconsistent evidence for a sentence superiority effect. However, when a more sensitive staircase procedure imported from psychophysics was used, a clear sentence advantage was found although the effect sizes were smaller than those observed in serial recall. These findings suggest that sentence recall benefits from automatic processes that utilise long-term knowledge across encoding, storage, and retrieval.

Immediate serial recall of digits presented at very high rates

1964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douwe B. Yntema ◽  
Frances T. Wozencraft ◽  
Laura Klem
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Very High
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