Mnemonic elaboration and recency judgments in children

Recency judgments in second and fourth grade Ss were examined when contextual or spatial locations were correlated with sequential order. No age differences were apparent when the cues were not available; however, unlike fourth grade Ss, the younger Ss failed to take advantage of the additional cues when they were provided. In Experiment 2, second grade Ss were successfully trained to use the appropriate strategy, suggesting that the age related deficiency was one of production rather than mediation. The effectiveness of mnemonic elaboration as an aid to recall of order information was established, together with the short-term efficiency of training such mnemonic strategies in young children who do not adopt them spontaneously. The data support the hypothesis that memory tasks are developmentally sensitive when a deliberate mnemonic strategy can be applied but insensitive to developmental differences when no strategy is appropriate.     

The child's memory for actional, locational, and serial scenes

Three-, four-, and six-year-old children (N = 180) were tested for recall of a toy missing from a previously seen display of four toys. Toys were displayed initially as a series (StoS), as a unit (UtoU), or moved from a series to a unit as S watched (StoU). There was a significant increase in memory for the missing toy with age. In addition, children viewing StoU displays remembered significantly more toys than did children viewing the other displays, independent of age. Twenty-five percent of the 6-year-olds rehearsed spontaneously while viewing the displays. Results indicated that the nature of a memory unit does not change with age, that memory improves with age, and that separate visual and verbal memories are operative in Ss in this age range.     

Age-related differences in the use of spatial and categorical relationships in a visuo-spatial working memory task

Research examining object identity and location processing in visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) has yielded inconsistent results on whether age differences exist in VSWM. The present study investigated whether these inconsistencies may stem from age-related differences in VSWM sub-processes, and whether processing of component VSWM information can be facilitated. In two experiments, younger and older adults studied 5 × 5 grids containing five objects in separate locations. In a continuous recognition paradigm, participants were tested on memory for object identity, location, or identity and location information combined. Spatial and categorical relationships were manipulated within grids to provide trial-level facilitation. In Experiment 1, randomizing trial types (location, identity, combination) assured that participants could not predict the information that would be queried. In Experiment 2, blocking trials by type encouraged strategic processing. Thus, we manipulated the nature of the task through object categorical relationship and spatial organization, and trial blocking. Our findings support age-related declines in VSWM. Additionally, grid organizations (categorical and spatial relationships), and trial blocking differentially affected younger and older adults. Younger adults used spatial organizations more effectively whereas older adults demonstrated an association bias. Our finding also suggests that older adults may be less efficient than younger adults in strategically engaging information processing.     

The Measurement of Retinal Fatigue to Achromatic Stimulation–I

Experiment I was conducted to investigate memory in a concept identification (CI) problem as a function of the number of trials that precede the recall task. It was found that the recall performance on the initial trials of CI problems was quite good, but declined rapidly when the recall test was given on later trials. It was pointed out that the bulk of the solutions to CI problems are obtained by Ss during the initial trials where an S has good recall for past stimuli. In Experiment II, recall by Ss in a normal CI problem was compared to the recall by Ss in an incidental learning control group. As the performance of Ss in a normal CI problem was significantly better, it was concluded that Ss actively try to store and retain information during their search for a solution.     

Age differences in organization and recall: The effects of training in categorization

An alternating sort/recall task was employed to train fourth graders and college students in organizational strategies. Free-sorting Ss, at both age levels, sorted a group of words into two to seven categories. Analyses of final sorting patterns indicated reliable differences between the children and adults. The organizational schemes thus developed by the free-sorting Ss were taught, by means of a yoking procedure, to other Ss. Results indicated that the recall of fourth graders was improved when they were forced to learn the sorting patterns developed by the older Ss. Similarly, impairment in the recall of college students was observed when they were required to sort according to the organization employed by the fourth graders. These findings imply that changes in organization can result in changes in recall performance.     

The ecology of spatial memory in four lemur species

Evolutionary theories suggest that ecology is a major factor shaping cognition in primates. However, there have been few systematic tests of spatial memory abilities involving multiple primate species. Here, we examine spatial memory skills in four strepsirrhine primates that vary in level of frugivory: ruffed lemurs (Varecia sp.), ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz), and Coquerel’s sifakas (Propithecus coquereli). We compare these species across three studies targeting different aspects of spatial memory: recall after a long-delay, learning mechanisms supporting memory and recall of multiple locations in a complex environment. We find that ruffed lemurs, the most frugivorous species, consistently showed more robust spatial memory than the other species across tasks—especially in comparison with sifakas, the most folivorous species. We discuss these results in terms of the importance of considering both ecological and social factors as complementary explanations for the evolution of primate cognitive skills.     

Recognition memory of spatial location information: Another failure to support automaticity

Hasher and Zacks (1979) claimed that spatial location information is automatically encoded. Evaluation of the empirical basis for this claim, however, casts doubt on some of the evidence for the automaticity position. This evaluation led to four experiments in which five criteria for testing the automaticity of cognitive processes were examined using a recognition task. Results of these experiments clearly show thatrecognition memory for spatial location information is influenced by intention, age of subjects, competing task loads, practice, and individual differences. The reported results, which extend those reported by Naveh-Benjamin (1987) for spatial locationrecall memory, are at odds with the claim that memory for spatial location information is exclusively mediated by automatic encoding processes. The concept of automaticity and the appropriateness of the criteria suggested for testing the automaticity of cognitive processes are discussed in light of the current results and recent findings on other features of the environment (e.g., frequency of occurrence) previously claimed to be automatically encoded.     

The role of imagery in incidental learning of educable retarded and normal children

Forty-five educable retarded and 45 normal children were given an orientation task in which noun- and picture-paired associates were presented once or four times under one of three instructional conditions: intentional imagery, incidental imagery, or intentional control (no imagery). An immediate associative recall test showed both imagery conditions to be superior to the intentional control condition. Furthermore, imagery instructions facilitated incidental recall of the retarded Ss equal to the recall of normal children in the intentional condition. Four presentations of pairs in contrast to one presentation during the orientation task improved the learning of both groups. The recall of retarded Ss in contrast to normal Ss, however, was greater with four presentations under imagery instructions than under intentional control instructions. The results were discussed in terms of imagery processes and their educational implications.     

The generality of word-association hierarchies: I. Production and recall of association responses

Ss responded to a stimuluslist in a free word association session (AS) and tried to recall their response to each stimulus in a recall session (RS). There was a significant positive correlation between commonality score (Co) in AS and number of correct reproductions in RS. All Ss tended to gain in Co, but LC (i.e., Ss of low Co in AS) more than HC (i.e., Ss of high Co in AS).     

Relation between verbal recall and visual recognition of the same stimuli in young children

Five-year-old children (N = 112) were shown drawings of common objects three times either as a naming-and-learning task or as a preference task (incidental learning). A verbal recall test followed by a class- and item-recognition test, scaled to reflect the accuracy of item recognition, were given either 2 min or two weeks after presentation. Intentional learning with naming led to better immediate recall than incidental learning, but the recognition and delayed recall scores were equal for the two learning conditions. The probability of verbal recall of object names was in each case uncorrelated with the accuracy of visual recognition of the same objects by the same Ss. The results are closely similar to those obtained with adult Ss by Bahrick and Boucher (1968).     

The developmental relationship between identity and equivalence conservation

Hooper's (1969a) finding that identity conservation develops prior to equivalence conservation was investigated using a more stringent within-subject design. Seventy-two kindergarten, first, and second graders were given three conservation tasks: (1) Identity, (2) Equivalence 1, in which the perceptual cues were comparable to those in Identity, and (3) Equivalence 2, the traditional Piagetian conservation task. Each task was administered under two levels of transformation. No significant differences in performance as a function of level of transformation, type of equivalence task, or sex of S were found, but first and second grade Ss performed better than kindergarten Ss. Eighty-six percent of the sample conserved in an all-or-none fashion, and 7 Ss (10%) passed equivalence while failing identity, thus contradicting the developmental priority of identity conservation.     

Differential recall of successes and failures: Its relationship to defensiveness,achievement motivation,and anxiety

Differential recall of completed and incompleted tasks under high and low stress was studied in 157 Ss. On the basis of repression, it would be expected that Ss identified as hysterics would recall fewer incompletions (ego threatening failures) under high than low stress. The results indicated that hysteria was not related to recall. On the other hand, Ss with high achievement motivation or low anxiety recalled more incompletions under high than low stress while there were no differences in their recall of completions under high and low stress. These results offered no support for repression. Furthermore, the relationships between recall and achievement motivation and anxiety suggest that the differential recall is due to differences in the original learning of the completed and incompleted tasks.     

Developmental trends in recall of central and incidental auditory material

An auditory recall task, involving central and incidental stimuli and designed to correspond to that used in visual selective attention studies, was developed and presented to second-, fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-graders. There were significant differences in favor of older compared to younger Ss and girls compared to boys. In addition, Ss performed better when animals were the relevant and foods the irrelevant stimuli than vice versa. The nature of the developmental increase in auditory recall of central vs incidental stimuli demonstrated in this task was discussed in terms of developmental trends found in the visual modality. The sex differences and differences found for the animals vs foods condition were discussed with regard to differential short-term memory strategies.     

What’s the object of object working memory in infancy? Unraveling ‘what’ and ‘how many’

Infants have a bandwidth-limited object working memory (WM) that can both individuate and identify objects in a scene, (answering ‘how many?’ or ‘what?’, respectively). Studies of infants’ WM for objects have typically looked for limits on either ‘how many’ or ‘what’, yielding different estimates of infant capacity. Infants can keep track of about three individuals (regardless of identity), but appear to be much more limited in the number of specific identities they can recall. Why are the limits on ‘how many’ and ‘what’ different? Are the limits entirely separate, do they interact, or are they simply two different aspects of the same underlying limit?We sought to unravel these limits in a series of experiments which tested 9- and 12-month-olds’ WM for object identities under varying degrees of difficulty. In a violation-of-expectation looking-time task, we hid objects one at a time behind separate screens, and then probed infants’ WM for the shape identity of the penultimate object in the sequence. We manipulated the difficulty of the task by varying both the number of objects in hiding locations and the number of means by which infants could detect a shape change to the probed object. We found that 9-month-olds’ WM for identities was limited by the number of hiding locations: when the probed object was one of two objects hidden (one in each of two locations), 9-month-olds succeeded, and they did so even though they were given only one means to detect the change. However, when the probed object was one of three objects hidden (one in each of three locations), they failed, even when they were given two means to detect the shape change. Twelve-month-olds, by contrast, succeeded at the most difficult task level.Results show that WM for ‘how many’ and for ‘what’ are not entirely separate. Individuated objects are tracked relatively cheaply. Maintaining bindings between indexed objects and identifying featural information incurs a greater attentional/memory cost. This cost reduces with development. We conclude that infant WM supports a small number of featureless object representations that index the current locations of objects. These can have featural information bound to them, but only at substantial cost.     

Eye movements and visual imagery in free recall

The relationship between eye movements and visual imagery has almost exclusively been studied by treating eye movements as the dependent variable while an imagery task is being performed. In the present experiment three eye-movement treatment conditions were manipulated, within Ss, as the independent variable in order to study their effects on the free recall of nouns which Ss had to store by means of imagery. The imagery-evoking capacity (I) of nouns was varied over three levels within lists of Dutch nouns (Low, Medium and High I). Ss were instructed to generate a visual image to each separate noun under the following treatment conditions: (a) while they looked over and scanned their image as if they were looking at the real object: (b) while they received concurrent visual stimulation from a checkerboard pattern; (c) while they fixated on a target. Reliable, but minor effects of treatment conditions on the recall scores were found. The results were discussed in terms of possible theories about the nature of the relationship between eye movements and visual imagery.     

Bounding of letter sequences and the integration of visually presented words

Ss wrote down letters that were presented briefly in various temporal and geometric arrangements. Results reveal marked impairment in processing more than one temporally extended word in parallel. The impairment cannot be attributed to spatial separation of letters by itself, to sequence, or to inability to discriminate the letters. The concept of ‘bounding’ is introduced to account for the perception of familiar words in a continuing flow of information; the results suggest that only one object can be bounded at a time. They also suggest that the information that guides the eyes' movements in reading is qualitatively different from the information extracted from the printed text.     

Mechanisms underlying corruption of working memory in Parkinson's disease

Working memory (WM) impairments are reported to occur in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the mechanisms are unclear. Here, we investigate several putative factors that might drive poor performance, by examining the precision of recall, the order in which items are recalled and whether memories are corrupted by random guessing (attentional lapses). We used two separate tasks that examined the quality of WM recall under different loads and retention periods, as well as a traditional digit span test. Firstly, on a simple measure of WM recall, where patients were asked to reproduce the orientation of a centrally presented arrow, overall recall was not significantly impaired. However, there was some evidence for increased guessing (attentional lapses). On a new analogue version of the Corsi-span task, where participants had to reproduce on a touchscreen the exact spatial pattern of presented stimuli in the order and locations in which they appeared, there was a reduction in the precision of spatial WM at higher loads. This deficit was due to misremembering item order. At the highest load, there was reduced recall precision, whereas increased guessing was only observed at intermediate set sizes. Finally, PD patients had impaired backward, but not forward, digit spans. Overall, these results reveal the task- and load-dependent nature of WM deficits in PD. On simple low-load tasks, attentional lapses predominate, whereas at higher loads, in the spatial domain, the corruption of mnemonic information—both order item and precision—emerge as the main driver of impairment.     

Elaboration structure and list length effects on verbal elaboration phenomena

The effects of elaboration structure (Sentence, Semantic paragraph, Syntactic paragraph) and list length (8, 12, 16 pairs) on paired-associate learning were investigated in a 3 × 3 factorial design. Seventy-five educable retardates were tested on acquisition (S-R) and reversal (R-S) tasks. Significant acquisition differences were found in the 8-pair list, where Semantic paragraph Ss performed better than Sentence Ss. In the longer lists, all structures were equally effective in facilitating acquisition (mean first trial correct = 60%), as well as reversal (mean correct = 95%). Sentence form (declarative, imperative, interrogative) was controlled in each elaboration structure. Analyses indicated that significantly fewer acquisition errors were made on pairs presented in declarative and imperative, as opposed to interrogative, elaborations. Tests of recall for the elaborations revealed that Ss in all conditions generally recalled them as declarative sentences. Further observations at 24 pairs confirmed the 12- and 16-pair findings.     

Free recall and retrieval speed of categorized items by kindergarten children

Kindergarten Ss were presented with 16 pictorial items in four category sets or a partially random ordem with one item from each category composing the four presentation sets. The pictures were presented either on conceptually related background pictures or on white backgrounds. The categorically grouped presentation facilitated free recall performance, both in terms of number of items recalled and the speed with which the items were recalled, and increased the amount of clustering in recall. Categorical clustering in recall was associated with shorter within- than between-category intervals and for those Ss who recalled items from each of four categories successively, the over-all temporal pattern in recall closely approximated that found with adults. No background effects were found.