Recency judgments as a function of word frequency: A framing effect and frequency misattributions

The effects of word frequency on judgments of recency of item presentation were examined in two experiments. Subjects in Experiment 1 were presented two mixed lists of high- and low-frequency words followed by a list assignment task for recognized items. It was found that subjects were biased toward assigning low-frequency words to the more recently presented list. Subjects in Experiment 2 were presented a single mixed list of high- and low-frequency words followed by either a relative recency of presentation judgment task or a relative primacy of presentation judgment task. Each word pair on the tests contained one high-frequency word and one low-frequency word. It was found that, for the recency judgment task, subjects were biased to select the low-frequency item as having been presented more recently. However, on the parallel primacy judgment task, there were no effects of word frequency; moreover, overall accuracy levels were higher with primacy than with recency instructions. We interpret the effects of word frequency on recency judgments in Experiments 1 and 2 in terms of a misattribution of frequency-related differences in recollection-based recognition. The finding that recency and primacy instructions produced different patterns of results provides further evidence (Flexser & Bower, 1974) for an effect on performance of the way in which the temporal judgment task was framed.     

The retrieval hypothesis as an explanation of induced retrograde amnesia

The present experiment tested the hypothesis that retrograde induced amnesia is due to retrieval failure and anterograde induced amnesia to encoding failure by providing recall cues which were expected to eliminate retrograde amnesia but worsen or have no effect on anterograde amnesia. The 80 subjects received auditory presentation of 10 lists, each composed of 15 four-letter words presented at a rate of 2s/item at 75 dB in a free-recall task, followed by a 72 s recall period. The amnesia-producing event was an outstanding item in serial position 8 presented at 115 dB (about the intensity of a loud shout) on half the lists. During the first half of the recall period subjects free-recalled, but during the last half they were given a list of the first (single cue) or the first two (double cue) letters of each word, to be used as aids to recall. To demonstrate induced amnesia, lists containing a loud item were compared to those not containing one. First half free recall performance indicated that large retrograde and anterograde effects were present for both cue conditions. Second half cued recall performance indicated that in the double cue condition retrograde amnesia disappeared and anterograde amnesia became larger. Cueing had much smaller effects in the single cue condition.     

Information processing in reading-disabled and nondisabled children

Reading disabled and nondisabled children (13-14 years of age) were presented lists of 10 words each at different rates (one word per 1, 2, and 4 sec), and immediately after the last word of each list they recalled the words in any order. Recall of the first few words presented from each list (the primacy effect) was lower in reading-disabled than nondisabled children, and slower presentation rates increased the primacy effect in both groups. These findings suggest that reading-disabled children are not completely failing to use elaborative encoding but are using less effective elaborative encoding than nondisabled readers. With all presentation rates, recall of the last few words (the recency effect) was comparable in both groups, suggesting that older reading-disabled children encode and recognize the stimuli and that elaborative encoding is deficient in reading-disabled in spite of adequate stimulus encoding and recognition.     

The locus of semantic interference in the “Stroop” color-naming task

In two experiments, introductory psychology students responded in two ways to three lists of 60 words printed in different colors. The lists consisted of color words and two sets of words associated with the colors (e.g., SKY, BLOOD, etc.). When the subjects responded by naming the color in which each word was printed, it took longer for the color word list than for either list of associates, i.e., the classical Stroop interference effect. The other response required the subjects to say words from one of the association lists which corresponded to the color in which each word was printed, e.g., they saw the word BLACK (or NIGHT, or COAL) printed inred ink, and had to respond by saying “blood.” Using this response, it took longest for the subjects to complete the list of words which were the same as those required as responses. Color words were somewhat less difficult, and the other association words were completed most quickly. The results do not pinpoint the locus of interference, but clarify additional assumptions which must be accepted to maintain alternative hypotheses.     

Recall as a function of orienting task and retrieval cue

Abstract.— In an incidental learning experiment, a 40 word list with 4 words representing each of 10 taxonom-ic categories and beginning with each of 10 first letters was presented to 120 subjects. Half the subjects sorted the words according to category, half according to initial letter. After an interval of either 1 or 6 min, retention was measured with cued or free recall tests. The subjects in the Category sort-Category cue condition obtained higher recall than the subjects in the Category sort-Letter cue condition, whereas level of recall did not differ between the Letter sort-Letter cue and Letter sort-Category cue conditions. These results together with other results from the experiment were considered as arguments against the Encoding Specificity Principle but in favor of a theory separating encoding from retrieval.     

Speech production: Evidence for syntactically and phonologically determined units

The durational accuracy with which subjects can speak syntactically structured strings of words was compared with their accuracy in speaking word lists. These measurements underscored the great temporal precision of the human articulatory mechanism which appears to be the most precisely controlled movement system of the human body. Evidence is presented that when a syntactically structured message is being spoken, the centrally programmed innervational units involved in its articulatory implementation are greater in size and complexity than when a word list is being spoken.

     

A context noise model of episodic word recognition

Item noise models of recognition assert that interference at retrieval is generated by the words from the study list. Context noise models of recognition assert that interference at retrieval is generated by the contexts in which the test word has appeared. The authors introduce the bind cue decide model of episodic memory, a Bayesian context noise model, and demonstrate how it can account for data from the item noise and dual-processing approaches to recognition memory. From the item noise perspective, list strength and list length effects, the mirror effect for word frequency and concreteness, and the effects of the similarity of other words in a list are considered. From the dual-processing perspective, process dissociation data on the effects of length, temporal separation of lists, strength, and diagnosticity of context are examined. The authors conclude that the context noise approach to recognition is a viable alternative to existing approaches.     

Memory, acquisition, and category clustering in learning-disabled children.

In Experiment 1, single trial, immediate-free recall of learning disabled and nondisabled children was compared. The primacy effect in learning-disabled children was lower, suggesting that rehearsal or other types of elaborative encoding may be deficient in these children. In Experiment 2, acquisition of randomly presented categorical lists in a multitrial-free recall task was compared in learning disabled and nondisabled children. One-half of each group was required to learn the same number of words (34 per list), whereas list length for the other half exceeded the primacy effect of each child in immediate-free recall to the same degree. When the same number of items was learned, acquisition was slower in learning disabled than nondisabled children. When the number of items varied according to the primacy effect of each child, acquisition of both groups was similar. Clustering was lower in learning disabled than nondisabled children. In Experiment 3, multitrial-free recall acquisition of categorical lists was examined in a subject-paced task. When the number of words learned exceeded the primacy effect of each child to the same degree, trials to criterion were similar in both groups but, when the children learned the same number of items, learning-disabled children required more trials to criterion. Presentation rates were faster in learning-disabled children. Presentation rates were negatively correlated with trials to criterion and positively correlated with clustering and primacy in immediate-free recall, suggesting that study time may be taken up by clustering, rehearsal, and/or other encoding strategies. Deficient elaborative encoding may be responsible for the slower acquisition of learning-disabled children.     

Scanning two memorized lists

Subjects were timed as they decided whether singly presented probe words belonged to one or the other of two memorized lists, or to neither list. Each list varied in length from one to four words. Reaction times increased linearly with the combined number of words in the two lists. When there was no a priori basis for distinguishing the lists, the slope of the function for positive test probes was 33–35 msec per word higher than that for negative probes. The slope for negative probes was 58 msec per word in one experiment and 46 msec per word in another. This suggests that subjects first scanned the combined lists exhaustively to determine whether the probe was present; if it was not, they made a negative response, and if it was, they scanned again to determine which list it was in. When the words in the two lists were conceptually distinct (one list representing animate and the other inanimate objects), the difference in slope was reduced to only 6 msec per word, suggesting that the second scan was all but eliminated.     

Serial position phenomena: Training and retrieval effects

With successive free recall lists primacy items are usually among the first to be reported on the initial list. Recency items will then take over and be first reported on later lists. This retrieval shift was studied under varied list conditions designed to counteract ordinary position effects, and proved to be a stable and resistent effect. One experiment had subjects practice on five different free recall lists over three trials, and the results agreed with the hypothesis that primacy reduction is caused by proactive interference rather than by the primacy to recency report shift. Experiments of the usual one-session laboratory type have consistently failed to show practice effects on serial lists with incompatible spatial and temporal order cues. In a case study of five subjects examined over a period of three months only slight improvement on single-trial lists was observed. However, when naive subjects were given four successive trials with the same type of cue-conflict list, prominent practice effects were easily demonstrated. Observations confirmed the assumption that repeated presentations of items located in middle list positions may counteract the privilege of primacy and recency positions. When repetitions were made within contracting and expanding lists, the results proved that active anchoring, making itself visible as primacy effects, is feasible with contracting lists but difficult with expanding lists. Active performance of list learning strategies generally results in primacy effects; whereas passive shortcut procedures, in learning and retrieval of information, produce recency effects. Predominant recency effects are symptoms of difficult task situations only partially mastered by the learner; primacy effects point to more successful elaboration. Overall, serial position effects do not seem to be due to structural memory stores so much as to the working of cognitive strategy factors. A problem-solving theory was presented as an alternative to information-processing models of serial learning and memory.     

Serial position effects in implicit memory

Serial position effects in explicit and implicit memory were investigated in a noncolour word Stroop task. Participants were presented with a study list of four words printed in different colours and were tested for memory of the list position of the colour (explicit memory task); they were then asked to complete a word stem primed (or not primed) by one of the words in the study list (implicit memory task), a task presented as a distractor task. Serial position effects were observed in both explicit and implicit memory, for both response times and proportion of correct responses, with marked primacy effects, a drop in performance towards the third list position and a rise in memory performance at the fourth list position, the recency effect being most pronounced in implicit memory. It is concluded that explicit and implicit expressions of memory are governed by similar principles of temporal information processing.     

Processing of words presented simultaneously to eye and ear

The simultaneous processing of auditorily and visually presented messages was examined in three experiments. Subjects searched lists of words for a target word while processing auditorily presented information. Across conditions, subjects searched for (a) target words in a list of words presented auditorily, (b) the same target words in lists presented visually, (c) a member of a taxonomic category in a visually presented list, and (d) a rhyme in a list of words presented visually. The level of processing of a simultaneous auditory message varied across experiments. In experiment 1, subjects shadowed lists of digits. In Experiment 2, subjects reported the antonym of each word in a list. In Experiment 3, subjects named the taxonomic category of each word in a list. In all three experiments, subject had high detection rates for target words presented visually and for category targets but low detection rates for target words presented auditorily and for rhyme targets. These results suggest that processing the semantic properties, but not the acoustic properties, of words presented to the visual modality is independent of simultaneous processing in the auditory modality. Implication for models of selective attention are discussed.     

A primacy effect in monkeys when list position is relevant

In Experiment 1 (1a and 1b), Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) learned lists of two-choice visual discriminations in which list position was relevant to discrimination performance. For example, Stimulus A was the rewarded stimulus if it was presented at List Position 1, but was not rewarded if it was presented at any other position in the list; similarly, Stimulus B was rewarded only at List Position 2, and so on. In learning these lists, all animals showed a marked primacy effect. In Experiment 2 (2a and 2b), Rhesus monkeys and Cynomolgus monkeys (M. fascicularis) learned lists of visual discriminations in which each visual stimulus occupied a fixed position in a list, but list position was not relevant to discrimination performance. For example, Stimulus E was always rewarded, and was always presented at List Position 1. To increase the salience of list beginning as a distinctive event, successive presentations of the list were separated by 24-hr intervals. In Experiment 2 there was no primacy effect, however. These results show for the first time that a primacy effect can be obtained in visual discrimination learning by monkeys. Furthermore, they suggest that it is obtained only when list position is relevant to the discrimination learning task.     

On the generality of some memory laws

Several memory laws have been established for the free recall of word lists. The generality of some of these laws were tested, using tasks which the subjects performed (SPTs) as to-be-recalled list items. SPT recall obeyed one law of word recall in showing a strong positive recency effect in immediate free recall, which appeared to be due to these events being in a temporary state of high accessibility. Differences between word and SPT recall were: 1) The reliable primacy effect associated with word recall did not appear in SPT recall; 2) Subjects reported using active memorisation strategies for word lists, but not for SPT lists; 3) Unlike word recall, diverting the subject's attention to so-called deep or shallow features of the SPTs during presentation did not affect the level of their recall. These results considered together with Cohen & Stewart's (1981) finding that SPT recall was not age-sensitive were taken to indicate that SPTs should be regarded as a different class of memory event than words, and that memory models dealing with SPT recall should de-emphasize the importance of encoding, stressing instead retention, and retrieval operations.     

工作记忆中汉语反词长效应机制

工作记忆中的反词长效应(reverse word-length effect)指在对长词和短词混合的词表进行即时序列回忆时, 独立长词回忆成绩优于独立短词的现象。以汉字词语为材料通过3个实验探讨反词长效应的机制。实验1采用纯粹词表和长短词混合词表, 既得到纯粹词词长效应, 也得到独立词反词长效应。实验2削弱了长短词之间的词长差异, 结果独立词反词长效应消失, 且独立词回忆成绩优于纯粹词。实验3设计了视觉延迟条件, 得到与实验1类似的结果, 只是独立词反词长效应有所削弱。三个实验的结果并不一致, 无法用现有的语音回路理论或SIMPLE理论进行很好地解释, 理论的整合与创新显得非常重要。因此, 提出多重编码以既相互竞争又相互补充方式进行平行加工的观点进行更完整地解释。     

Output order in immediate serial recall

In two experiments, we examined the effect of output order in immediate serial recall (ISR). In Experiment 1, three groups of participants saw lists of eight words and wrote down the words in the rows corresponding to their serial positions in an eight-row response grid. One group was precued to respond in forward order, a second group was precued to respond in any order, and a third group was postcued for response order. There were significant effects of output order, but not of cue type. Relative to the forward output order, the free output order led to enhanced recency and diminished primacy, with superior performance for words output early in recall. These results were replicated in Experiment 2 using six-item lists, which further suggests that output order plays an important role in the primacy effect in ISR and that the recency items are most highly accessible at recall.     

Phonological similarity effects in simple and complex span tasks

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of phonological similarity in simple and complex memory span tasks. In Experiment 1, participants performed either a simple or a complex span task, and the memoranda within lists were either phonologically similar or distinct. Phonologically similar lists consisted of words that rhymed.The simple span task was word span. There were two complex span tasks; one was the original reading span task, and the other was a variant of reading span in which all the sentences within a list were contextually related. The classic phonological similarity decrement was observed in word span. In contrast, phonological similarity facilitation was observed in both versions of reading span. This facilitation effect was further investigated in Experiment 2 using two new versions of reading span. In Experiment 2, the sentences in reading span were either short or long, and the memoranda were presented separately from, and were unrelated to, the sentences. Again, words within phonologically similar lists rhymed, and again, facilitation was observed. In Experiment 3, phonological similarity was operationalized in terms of feature overlap, rather than rhyme. The classic phonological similarity decrement was still observed in word span, but facilitation was not observed in complex span. The results suggest that phonological similarity, when operationalized using words that rhyme, serves as a list retrieval cue and that complex span tasks are more dependent on cue-driven memory retrieval mechanisms than are simple span tasks.     

Reading strategies in orthographies of intermediate depth are flexible: Modulation of length effects in Portuguese

This paper examines the role of grapheme–phoneme conversion for skilled reading in an orthography of intermediate depth, Portuguese. The effects of word length in number of letters were determined in two studies. Mixed lists of five- and six-letter words and nonwords were presented to young adults in lexical decision and reading aloud tasks in the first study; in the second one, the length range was increased from four to six letters and an extra condition was added where words and nonwords were presented in separate, or blocked, lists. Reaction times were larger for longer words and nonwords in lexical decision, and in reading aloud mixed lists, but no effect of length was observed when reading words in blocked lists. The effect of word length is thus modulated by list composition. This is evidence that grapheme–phoneme conversion is not as predominant for phonological recoding in intermediate orthographies as it is in shallow ones, and suggests that skilled reading in those orthographies is highly responsive to tasks conditions because readers may switch from smaller segment-by-segment decoding to larger unit or lexicon-related processing.     

List composition and the word length effect in immediate recall: A comparison of localist and globalist assumptions

Lists of short words usually are recalled better than lists of longer words in immediate recall tasks. Such word length effects might be explained by localist accounts, in which the length of each word in a list affects the recall of that word only, or by globalist accounts, in which the lengths of at least some words affect the recall of other words (e.g., Baddeley, 1986). In a recent localist account, Neath and Nairne (1995) proposed that the recall of each word depends on the likelihood that features within the word are contaminated within the memory representation. We tested this by presenting not only homogeneous lists of short and long words, but also mixed lists, and by including articulatory suppression on some trials. The short-word advantage depended on the composition of the list, ruling out a strictly localist approach. There appear to be several globalist influences on recall, including distinctiveness factors as well as phonological storage and articulation.     

Further evidence of the intricacy of memory span

Memory span was measured for lists of verbal items constructed such that the items in the first half of the list were of one category and those of the second half were of another. In Experiment 1, the lists consisted of digits and words (e.g., 2, 8, 7, horse, cow, sheep or horse, cow, sheep, 2, 8, 7); in Experiment 2, they consisted of words from the same semantic domain and words from different semantic domains; in Experiments 3 and 4, they consisted of words that rhymed and words that did not rhyme. A category-order effect occurred in each experiment: Span was larger when the digits, same-domain words, or rhyming words occurred in the first half of the list than when they occurred in the second half. These findings suggest that memory span is more complex than is generally assumed.