Recognizing the Role of Consistency in a Delayed Memory Task

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1155-1159
Author(s):  
Gayle Schwark ◽  
Stephen Rice ◽  
Lisa Busche ◽  
David Trafimow
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Performance Theory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Memory Decay ◽  
Potential Performance Theory

Past research on short-term memory decay has found that participants are more efficient at remembering information when the delay between stimuli presentation and recall is short as opposed to long. In the current study we used Potential Performance Theory (PPT) to identify the role that both random and systematic factors play in observed memory performance over a delay. We presented participants with a string of letters followed by either a 2-second or 16-second delay. Following the delay, participants were presented with a two alternative forced choice (2AFC) display where they were asked to determine whether the matching string was in the first or second display. The findings indicate that inconsistency is primarily responsible for the decrements in observed performance that can be seen over a time delay. Theoretical and practical applications are discussed.

scholarly journals Persistent Spatial Information in the FEF during Object-based Short-term Memory Does Not Contribute to Task Performance

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1292-1299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey L. Clark ◽  
Behrad Noudoost ◽  
Tirin Moore
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Persistent Activity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Object Based ◽  
Saccade Task

We previously reported the existence of a persistent spatial signal in the FEF during object-based STM. This persistent activity reflected the location at which the sample appeared, irrespective of the location of upcoming targets. We hypothesized that such a spatial signal could be used to maintain or enhance object-selective memory activity elsewhere in cortex, analogous to the role of a spatial signal during attention. Here, we inactivated a portion of the FEF with GABAa agonist muscimol to test whether the observed activity contributes to object memory performance. We found that, although RTs were slowed for saccades into the inactivated portion of retinotopic space, performance for samples appearing in that region was unimpaired. This contrasts with the devastating effects of the same FEF inactivation on purely spatial working memory, as assessed with the memory-guided saccade task. Thus, in a task in which a significant fraction of FEF neurons displayed persistent, sample location-based activity, disrupting this activity had no impact on task performance.

Language Influences on Verbal Short-Term Memory Performance in Down Syndrome

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1334-1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Brock ◽  
Christopher Jarrold
Keyword(s):  
Down Syndrome ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Term Memory

Down syndrome is associated with severe deficits in language and verbal short-term memory, but the causal relationship between these deficits is unclear. The current study therefore investigated the influence of language abilities on verbal short-term memory performance in Down syndrome. Twenty-one individuals with Down syndrome and 29 younger typically developing children were tested on memory for words and nonwords using 2 immediate recognition tasks: an order memory task that was a relatively pure measure of verbal short-term memory and an item memory task that was more sensitive to language ability. Despite having superior vocabulary knowledge to the typically developing children, individuals with Down syndrome were impaired on both order and item tasks. This impairment was particularly marked on the item task, where individuals with Down syndrome showed an atypically large lexicality effect. These results are interpreted in terms of an underlying verbal short-term memory deficit in Down syndrome that is compounded by poor phonological discrimination abilities.

scholarly journals The role of habituation and attentional orienting in the disruption of short-term memory performance

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Philipp Röer ◽  
Raoul Bell ◽  
Sandra Dentale ◽  
Axel Buchner
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Attentional Orienting ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory

A Signal-Detection Model of Visual Short-Term Memory Performance for Random Block Patterns

Perception ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 112-112
Author(s):  
F W Cornelissen ◽  
M W Greenlee
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Detection Model ◽  
Visual Short Term Memory ◽  
Random Block

On the basis of signal-detection theory, we have formulated a model that accurately explains performance on a visual short-term memory task involving random block patterns. The model assumes that the internal response of an observer for detecting a change in any given element of the block pattern is noisy and has a Gaussian-shaped distribution. On this basis we can calculate the likelihood that an observer correctly or falsely identifies a change in the pattern after a certain time interval (ISI). Using this likelihood, we can then predict the likelihood that an observer correctly identifies a whole pattern as having changed or not as a function of the number of elements that changed in the pattern. We have previously shown (Cornelissen and Greenlee, 1993 Perception22 Supplement, 46) that memory performance declines when changes occur in pattern elements located on the perimeter of the pattern. Therefore the model also incorporates a circular symmetric ‘memory field’ that shows a Gaussian-shaped decline of memory performance from the point of fixation. The model has three parameters: d' (detectability of a change), lambda (criterion level), and the standard deviation of the Gaussian of the memory field. In the experiments we performed, block patterns made up of 50 light and 50 dark randomly arranged elements (0.5 deg checks) were briefly (200 ms) shown. In a forced-choice task, subjects judged whether two sequentially presented (with ISIs of 1, 3, or 10 s) block patterns were the same or different. Task difficulty was varied by varying the number of elements in the patterns that changed on ‘different’ trials. The model is able to accurately predict memory performance at the three different ISIs for various levels of pattern differences (changes in 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 20, and 50 out of 100 elements).

Role of affect in short-term memory for paired associates.

1968 ◽  
Vol 78 (3, Pt.1) ◽  
pp. 494-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin F. Nodine ◽  
James H. Korn
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Paired Associates

The capacity of short term memory from an evolutionary perspective

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Manoochehri
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Cognitive System ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory

Memory span in humans has been intensely studied for more than a century. In spite of the critical role of memory span in our cognitive system, which intensifies the importance of fundamental determinants of its evolution, few studies have investigated it by taking an evolutionary approach. Overall, we know hardly anything about the evolution of memory components. In the present study, I briefly review the experimental studies of memory span in humans and non-human animals and shortly discuss some of the relevant evolutionary hypotheses.

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