An analysis of the visual component in recognition memory for verbal stimuli

Forty Ss were given a continuous recognition memory test in which each word was presented twice, either in the same print or in different print on the two occasions. The results showed that (a) recognition performance was facilitated to a small but statistically significant extent in the same-print condition and that (b) Ss could reliably report first presentation print for recognized items for at least 1^1/2 rain. In a second experiment, the stimuli used were nonsense strings of. from five to seven letters instead of words. This manipulation increased the same-print advantage in recognition but reduced Ss’ ability to report first print form. The results indicate that information about the physical features of verbal stimuli is retained in a visual code that is partially’ or wholly independent of the verbal code for the same stimuli. The results are inconsistent with the conclusion that the visual code is stored only as a dependent attribute of the verbal code in memory.     

Individual differences and task format in sentence verification

This study examined the effects of task format and individual differences in cognitive ability on performance of the sentence-picture verification task. Four groups of subjects were selected on the basis of their scores on psychometric tests of verbal and spatial ability: low verbal/low spatial, high verbal/high spatial, low verbal/high spatial, and high verbal/low spatial. Subjects completed four different versions of the sentence verification task, each version differing in terms of the interval between sentence and picture presentation. The results confirmed the importance of both task format and spatial ability in determining the cognitive strategy employed by subjects in carrying out the task. The finding of principal interest, however, was that spatial ability was the most significant determinant of strategy choice, and that low spatial subjects made substantial use of linguistic strategies under task formats designed to encourage imaginal strategies.     

Differentiating between verbal and spatial encoding using eye-movement recordings

Visual information processing is guided by an active mechanism generating saccadic eye movements to salient stimuli. Here we investigate the specific contribution of saccades to memory encoding of verbal and spatial properties in a serial recall task. In the first experiment, participants moved their eyes freely without specific instruction. We demonstrate the existence of qualitative differences in eye-movement strategies during verbal and spatial memory encoding. While verbal memory encoding was characterized by shifting the gaze to the to-be-encoded stimuli, saccadic activity was suppressed during spatial encoding. In the second experiment, participants were required to suppress saccades by fixating centrally during encoding or to make precise saccades onto the memory items. Active suppression of saccades had no effect on memory performance, but tracking the upcoming stimuli decreased memory performance dramatically in both tasks, indicating a resource bottleneck between display-controlled saccadic control and memory encoding. We conclude that optimized encoding strategies for verbal and spatial features are underlying memory performance in serial recall, but such strategies work on an involuntary level only and do not support memory encoding when they are explicitly required by the task.     

EFFECTS OF PERCEPTUAL QUALITY AND TASK DIFFERENCE ON THE HEMISPHERIC PROCESSING OF WORD STIMULI

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of stimulus exposure duration, retinal eccentricity, visual noise and task differences (physical classification and semantic classification) on the processing of Kana (Japanese phonetic symbol) words presented to the left and right visual fields. The primary findings of the three experiments were as follows. The right visual field advantage was found in the shorter exposure duration but no visual field difference was shown in the longer exposure duration condition (experiment 1). Stimulus presentation to large and small retinal eccentricity conditions revealed similar visual field difference (experiment 2). No significant visual field difference was shown in both clear and blurred stimulus presentation conditions (experiment 3). Semantic classification task revealed a right visual field advantage in all experiments whereas no visual field difference was shown in physical classification task in experiments 2 and 3. These results were discussed in terms of spatial frequency hypothesis and levels of processing hypothesis.     

The role of mathematical skill in sex differences on Raven’s Matrices

This study replicated a previously reported male advantage on certain items of Raven’s Matrices and found no sex differences in performance on other items. We refer to the latter as analytic (1) items and the former as analytic (2) items. Reasons for the male advantage were investigated by correlating scores obtained by male and female high school students on analytic (1) and analytic (2) items with their scores on tests of spatial, verbal and mathematical ability. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the correlations between scores on analytic (2) items and the two spatial and verbal tests. In contrast, males but not females showed a significantly higher correlation of maths with analytic (2) than with analytic (1). The results suggest the Raven’s Matrices may engage different, more specific cognitive processes in males and more general cognitive processes in females.     

Socioeconomic status modifies the sex difference in spatial skill

We examined whether the male spatial advantage varies across children from different socioeconomic (SES) groups. In a longitudinal study, children were administered two spatial tasks requiring mental transformations and a syntax comprehension task in the fall and spring of second and third grades. Boys from middle- and high-SES backgrounds outperformed their female counterparts on both spatial tasks, whereas boys and girls from a low-SES group did not differ in their performance level on these tasks. As expected, no sex differences were found on the verbal comprehension task. Prior studies have generally been based on the assumption that the male spatial advantage reflects ability differences in the population as a whole. Our finding that the advantage is sensitive to variations in SES provides a challenge to this assumption, and has implications for a successful explanation of the sex-related difference in spatial skill.     

Peer Relationships and Emotional Well-Being of Children with Sickle Cell Disease: A Controlled Replication

This study investigated the effects of stimulus presentation modality on working memory performance in elementary school-age children ages 7–13. The experimental paradigm implemented a multitrial learning task incorporating three presentation modalities: Auditory, Visual, and simultaneous Auditory plus Visual. The first experiment compared the learning and memory performance of older and younger elementary school children. The second experiment compared verbal learning and memory performance in elementary school children with major depressive disorder (MDD) to the performance of nondepressed children. All participants benefited from the pictorial presentation of information during learning and recall of information as compared to the auditory presentation alone. Both age and socioeconomic status affected working memory performance in typically developing children. Children with depression demonstrated a more passive learning style during the auditory list acquisition. The present study supports the pictorial superiority hypothesis in verbal learning tasks and the theory that working memory matures during elementary school years. Furthermore, current results indicate that complex working memory measures are not entirely independent of previous experience.     

Recognition of letters traced in the right and left palms: Evidence for a process-oriented tactile asymmetry

Three experiments were conducted to examine the relative ability of the cerebral hemispheres to identify capital letters traced in the palms of the hands. In Experiment 1, letters were presented either right side up or upside down, and the subject's task was to name the letter aloud or point to an identical letter using the stimulated hand. Analysis of the accuracy data revealed that the left palm/right hemisphere (LP/RH) performed this task significantly better than did the right palm/left hemisphere (RP/LH), particularly when the stimuli were presented in the upside-down orientation. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects performed the same letter identification task; however, on half the trials, they were required to maintain either a spatial or verbal concurrent memory load (i.e., a 24-point Vanderplas & Garvin form or six low-imagery nouns, respectively). In the no-load condition of Experiment 2 (spatial forms), the previously observed LP/RH advantage was replicated. However, in the load condition, this LP/RH superiority was no longer in evidence. In Experiment 3 (low-imagery nouns), the presence of a concurrent verbal task had minimal impact on the previously observed performance asymmetry as the LP/RH advantage was obtained in both the no-load and load conditions. The results of the three studies taken in composite suggest that (1) the operations utilized to identify letters traced in the palms of the hands are primarily spatial in nature and (2) that the observed performance asymmetry may be attributed to a right hemisphere superiority for the analysis and codification of information along a spatial dimension. These findings are discussed in terms of a "process-oriented" model of hemispheric asymmetry.     

Position Location on Topographical Maps: Effects of Task Factors,Training, and Strategies

There is little research on the ways people go about the very common task of extracting information from various forms of maps. In this study, we examined task factors, cognitive processes, and individual differences as determinants of performance differences when locating a position on a topographical map from a given position on the ground. Subjects for the study were 188 Australian Army personnel. Both spatial visualization ability and a visual learning style preference were found to be effective predictors of performance, whereas a form of verbal strategy training produced significantly improved performance. When no effective strategy was supplied, those subjects with a strong visual learning style preference performed dramatically better than their low-preference counterparts, suggesting that this form of processing preference may have a powerful impact on untrained performance. These results indicate that most subjects usually approach the task of map reading in a relatively passive way, without any coherent strategy, and then attempt to encode information using inefficient spatial codes. When a simple and effective verbal strategy was supplied, most subjects were able to adopt it, with uniformly beneficial, results. This suggests that performance on many spatial tasks could be improved by verbal strategy training.     

Simultaneity in Processing of Verbal and Spatial Information

Recent studies involving recall of verbal and spatial information produced conflicting results. In some cases investigators found males recalled verbal and spatial information equally well whereas females did less well on spatial than verbal information, but in other cases no sex differences were found. They also differed in that one study found processing of verbal and spatial information to be independent whereas others suggested trade-offs might occur. Using college-age subjects (17-25 yrs) with equal numbers of males and females (total n = 186) two experiments were performed to examine these differences. Although overall differences were found favoring verbal recall, females’ recall of spatial information was relatively poorer than males. Using a procedure designed to avoid possible artifactual depression of combined performance, we concluded that processing of spatial and verbal information is simultaneous in nature.

     

A comparison of backward and forward spatial spans

The standard Corsi blocks task is frequently used to measure the capacity of visuospatial working memory, but the implications of the use of both forward and backward recall are still unclear. In the present study, we showed that the backward Corsi task is particularly powerful in discriminating between low- and high-spatial-ability individuals and involves different processes from those involved in the forward task. From a sample of 425 participants we selected one group of 20 high-spatial-ability participants and one of 20 low-spatial-ability participants. The results demonstrated that a backward spatial span offers specific information not available from a forward spatial span, and that there was no facilitation due to a descending format. In particular, in the low-spatial-ability group, performance was generally poorer, but backward Corsi recall was lower than forward recall, and participants did not show any advantage following the descending presentation format—which in some contexts is considered to reduce proactive interference. We conclude that the backward Corsi task has specific value and that the assumption of fully parallel verbal and visuospatial working-memory systems can lead to a variety of misunderstandings.     

A comparison of backward and forward spatial spans

The standard Corsi blocks task is frequently used to measure the capacity of visuospatial working memory, but the implications of the use of both forward and backward recall are still unclear. In the present study, we showed that the backward Corsi task is particularly powerful in discriminating between low- and high-spatial-ability individuals and involves different processes from those involved in the forward task. From a sample of 425 participants we selected one group of 20 high-spatial-ability participants and one of 20 low-spatial-ability participants. The results demonstrated that a backward spatial span offers specific information not available from a forward spatial span, and that there was no facilitation due to a descending format. In particular, in the low-spatial-ability group, performance was generally poorer, but backward Corsi recall was lower than forward recall, and participants did not show any advantage following the descending presentation format—which in some contexts is considered to reduce proactive interference. We conclude that the backward Corsi task has specific value and that the assumption of fully parallel verbal and visuospatial working-memory systems can lead to a variety of misunderstandings.     

Gender Differences and Cognitive Correlates of Mathematical Skills in School-Aged Children

Published information concerning the influence of gender on mathematical ability tests has been controversial. The present study examines the performance of school-aged boys and girls from two age groups on several mathematical tasks and analyzes the predictive value of a verbal fluency test and a spatial test on those mathematical tasks. More specifically, our research attempts to answer the following two questions: (1) Are gender differences in mathematical test performance among children interrelated with age and (2) do verbal and spatial nonmathematical tests mediate gender effects on mathematical test performance? Two hundred and seventy-eight 7- to 10-year-old children and 248 13- to 16-year-olds were selected from schools in Colombia and Mexico (231 boys and 295 girls). The age effect was found to be significant for all measures, with scores improving with age. Results showed that boys and girls in both age groups scored similarly in most subtests, but that differences emerged in the performance of mental mathematical operations and in resolving arithmetical problems. In the latter – but not in mental math – older boys outperformed older girls, whereas no gender differences were observed in the younger groups. After controlling for age, it was found that the spatial test was, indeed, a significant mediator of gender effects, while the verbal task was not.     

A male advantage for spatial and object but not verbal working memory using the n-back task

Sex-related differences have been reported for performance and neural substrates on some working memory measures that carry a high cognitive load, including the popular n-back neuroimaging paradigm. Despite some evidence of a sex effect on the task, the influence of sex on performance represents a potential confound in neuroimaging research. The present study investigated sex-related differences in verbal, spatial, and common object versions of the high cognitive load "n-back" working memory task. Eighteen male and 18 female undergraduates completed all 3 versions of the task. A mixed ANOVA, with Sex (male and female) as the between-subjects factor and Condition (verbal, spatial, and object) as the within-subjects repeated measure revealed that males were significantly more accurate than females on the spatial and object versions of the n-back task and performed equivalently to females on the verbal version of the task. Although the expected female advantage for verbal working memory was not found using this effortful n-back task, these results support a male advantage for high cognitive load spatial and object working memory. Future research should take into account the influence of sex on performance of the n-back task, and examine sex-related differences in working memory using other paradigms.     

Procedural Multimedia Presentations: The Effects of Working Memory and Task Complexity on Instruction Time and Assembly Accuracy

Procedural text conveys information of a series of steps to be performed. This study examined the role of verbal and visuo‐spatial WM in comprehension and execution of assembly instructions, as a function of format (text, images, multimedia) and task complexity (three or five steps). One hundred and eight participants read and executed 27 instructions to assemble a LEGO^TM object, in single and dual task conditions. Study times and errors during assembly were measured. Participants processed faster pictorial and multimedia instructions than text instructions, and made fewer errors in the execution of multimedia instructions. Dual task affected more text or picture‐only, than multimedia presentation. A verbal secondary task caused more errors in text or picture‐only presentations, and spatial secondary task also caused interference in text‐only instructions. Overall, these results support the multimedia advantage, and the role of both verbal and visuo‐spatial WM, when understanding instructions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Locating targets from imagined perspectives: Comparing labelling with pointing responses

Participants in two experiments adopted imagined perspectives in a perceptually available spatial scene and located targets by using either verbal terms (labelling) or arrows (pointing). Results revealed that performance was faster and more accurate for labelling than for pointing and more so when the adopted perspectives were misaligned with the physical orientation of the participant. This finding was obtained even when an orientation cue allowed participants to adopt the imagined perspective in advance of target presentation. A third experiment replicated these findings using traditional pointing and verbal responding. We argue that performance from misaligned perspectives in perspective-taking tasks suffers due to reference frame conflicts and that these conflicts are more pronounced with pointing and other manual responses that rely more on the reference frame of the physical body.     

Locating targets from imagined perspectives: comparing labelling with pointing responses

Participants in two experiments adopted imagined perspectives in a perceptually available spatial scene and located targets by using either verbal terms (labelling) or arrows (pointing). Results revealed that performance was faster and more accurate for labelling than for pointing and more so when the adopted perspectives were misaligned with the physical orientation of the participant. This finding was obtained even when an orientation cue allowed participants to adopt the imagined perspective in advance of target presentation. A third experiment replicated these findings using traditional pointing and verbal responding. We argue that performance from misaligned perspectives in perspective-taking tasks suffers due to reference frame conflicts and that these conflicts are more pronounced with pointing and other manual responses that rely more on the reference frame of the physical body.     

Neuropsychological evidence of visual storage in short-term memory tasks

Auditory and visual presentation of verbal material were compared in a single patient having an auditory verbal S.T.M. deficit. A Peterson short-term forgetting experiment and an immediate memory span task are reported. Striking differences in performance related to modality of input were obtained. Auditory short-term forgetting was more rapid, whereas with visual presentation short-term decay functions were relatively normal. With visual presentation there was no evidence of acoustic confusion errors but there was some evidence of visual confusion errors. The findings are interpreted in terms of a separate post-perceptual visual S.T.M. system.