https://www.fafich.ufmg.br/cogvila/discexp3/wmebuff.pdf

The episodic buffer: a new component of working memory?

Miller (1956) summarized evidence that people can remember about seven chunks in short-term memory (STM) tasks. How- ever, that number was meant more as a rough estimate and a rhetorical device than as a real capacity limit. Others have since suggested that there is a more precise capacity limit, but that it is only three to five chunks. The present target article brings together a wide vari- ety of data on capacity limits suggesting that the smaller capacity limit is real. Capacity limits will be useful in analyses of information processing only if the boundary conditions for observing them can be carefully described. Four basic conditions in which chunks can be identified and capacity limits can accordingly be observed are: (1) when information overload limits chunks to individual stimulus items, (2) when other steps are taken specifically to block the recoding of stimulus items into larger chunks, (3) in performance discontinuities caused by the capacity limit, and (4) in various indirect effects of the capacity limit. Under these conditions, rehearsal and long-term memory cannot be used to combine stimulus items into chunks of an unknown size; nor can storage mechanisms that are not capacity- limited, such as sensory memory, allow the capacity-limited storage mechanism to be refilled during recall. A single, central capacity limit averaging about four chunks is implicated along with other, noncapacity-limited sources. The pure STM capacity limit expressed in chunks is distinguished from compound STM limits obtained when the number of separately held chunks is unclear. Reasons why pure capacity estimates fall within a narrow range are discussed and a capacity limit for the focus of attention is proposed.

/pdf/the-magical-number-4-in-short-term-memory-a-reconsideration-3704b9phuz.pdf

The magical number 4 in short-term memory: a reconsideration of mental storage capacity.

The concept of working memory proposes that a dedicated system maintains and stores information in the short term, and that this system underlies human thought processes. Current views of working memory involve a central executive and two storage systems: the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. Although this basic model was first proposed 30 years ago, it has continued to develop and to stimulate research and debate. The model and the most recent results are reviewed in this article.

/pdf/working-memory-looking-back-and-looking-forward-58jorxris3.pdf

Working memory: looking back and looking forward

This article describes a 2-systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes. In particular, it is assumed that social behavior is controlled by 2 interacting systems that follow different operating principles. The reflective system generates behavioral decisions that are based on knowledge about facts and values, whereas the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations. The proposed model describes how the 2 systems interact at various stages of processing, and how their outputs may determine behavior in a synergistic or antagonistic fashion. It extends previous models by integrating motivational components that allow more precise predictions of behavior. The implications of this reflective–impulsive model are applied to various phenomena from social psychology and beyond. Extending previous dual-process accounts, this model is not limited to specific domains of mental functioning and attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms.

/pdf/reflective-and-impulsive-determinants-of-social-behavior-fd62htt3ys.pdf

Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Social Behavior

This review of 122 research reports (184 independent samples, 14,900 subjects) found average r = .274 for prediction of behavioral, judgment, and physiological measures by Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures. Parallel explicit (i.e., self-report) measures, available in 156 of these samples (13,068 subjects), also predicted effectively (average r = .361), but with much greater variability of effect size. Predictive validity of self-report was impaired for socially sensitive topics, for which impression management may distort self-report responses. For 32 samples with criterion measures involving Black-White interracial behavior, predictive validity of IAT measures significantly exceeded that of self-report measures. Both IAT and self-report measures displayed incremental validity, with each measure predicting criterion variance beyond that predicted by the other. The more highly IAT and self-report measures were intercorrelated, the greater was the predictive validity of each.

https://faculty.washington.edu/agg/pdf/GPU&B.meta-analysis.JPSP.2009.pdf

Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: III. Meta-analysis of predictive validity.

Numerous studies have demonstrated impaired recall when the to-be-remembered information is accompanied or followed by irrelevant information. However, no current theory of immediate memory explains all three common methods of manipulating irrelevant information: requiring concurrent articulation, presenting irrelevant speech, and adding a stimulus suffix. Five experiments combined these manipulations to determine how they interact and which theoretical framework most accurately and completely accounts for the data. In Experiments 1 and 2, a list of auditory items was followed by an irrelevant speech sound (the suffix) while subjects engaged in articulatory suppression. Although articulatory suppression reduced overall recall compared to a control condition, comparable suffix effects were seen in both conditions. Experiments 3 and 4 found reliable suffix effects when list presentation was accompanied by irrelevant speech. Experiment 5 found a suffix effect even when the irrelevant speech was composed of a...

Manipulations of irrelevant information: suffix effects with articulatory suppression and irrelevant speech.

There are innumerable demonstrations of serial position functions-with characteristic primacy and recency effects-in episodic tasks, but there are only a handful of such demonstrations in semantic memory tasks, and those demonstrations have used only two types of stimuli. Here, we provide three more examples of serial position functions when recalling from semantic memory. Participants were asked to reconstruct the order of (1) two cartoon theme song lyrics, (2) the seven Harry Potter books, and (3) two sets of movies, and all three demonstrations yielded conventional-looking serial position functions with primacy and recency effects. The data were well-fit by SIMPLE, a local distinctiveness model of memory that was originally designed to account for serial position effects in short- and long-term episodic memory. According to SIMPLE, serial position functions in both episodic and semantic memory tasks arise from the same type of processing: Items that are more separated from their close neighbors in psychological space at the time of recall will be better remembered. We argue that currently available evidence suggests that serial position functions observed when recalling items that are presumably in semantic memory arise because of the same processes as those observed when recalling items that are presumably in episodic memory.

/pdf/three-more-semantic-serial-position-functions-and-a-simple-2tbkddqwea.pdf

Three more semantic serial position functions and a SIMPLE explanation

Many current models of memory are specified with enough detail to make predictions about patterns of errors in memory tasks. However, there are often not enough empirical data available to test these predictions. We report two experiments that examine the relative frequency of fill‐in and infill errors. In immediate serial recall tasks, subjects sometimes incorrectly recall item N too soon, placing it in position N−1. The error of interest is which item is recalled after this initial mistake. A fill‐in error is the tendency to recall item N−1 next, whereas an infill error is the tendency to recall item N+1 next. Both experiments reveal more fill‐in than infill errors, not only overall but at each possible error location throughout the list. The overall ratio is approximately 2:1. We conclude that none of the currently existing models adequately accounts for fill‐in and infill errors.

Fill-in and infill errors in order memory.

Many models of immediate memory predict the presence or absence of various effects, but none have
been tested to see whether they predict an appropriate distribution of effect sizes. The authors show that
the feature model (J. S. Nairne, 1990) produces appropriate distributions of effect sizes for both the
phonological confusion effect and the word-length effect. The model produces the appropriate number
of reversals, when participants are more accurate with similar items or long items, and also correctly
predicts that participants performing less well overall demonstrate smaller and less reliable phonological
similarity and word-length effects and are more likely to show reversals. These patterns appear within the
model without the need to assume a change in encoding or rehearsal strategy or the deployment of a
different storage buffer. The implications of these results and the wider applicability of the distributionmodeling
approach are discussed.

http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~sxs98cpb/philip_beaman_files/Publication%20Re%20&%20Preprints/BeamanNeathSurprenant2008.pdf

Modeling distributions of immediate memory effects: no strategies needed?

The serial position function, with its characteristic primacy and recency effects, is one of the most ubiquitous findings in episodic memory tasks. In contrast, there are only two demonstrations of such functions in tasks thought to tap semantic memory. Here, we provide a third demonstration, showing that free recall of the prime ministers of Canada also results in a serial position function. Scale Independent Memory, Perception, and Learning (SIMPLE), a local distinctiveness model of memory that was designed to account for serial position effects in episodic memory, fit the data. According to SIMPLE, serial position functions observed in episodic and semantic memory all reflect the relative distinctiveness principle: items will be well remembered to the extent that they are more distinct than competing items at the time of retrieval. Keywords: serial position function, semantic memory, episodic memory, recency effect (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.) One ubiquitous finding in episodic memory tasks is the serial position function. Recent items are well remembered (the recency effect), the first few items are also well remembered (the primacy effect), but midlist items are less well recalled. Such serial position functions are readily observable over timescales ranging from milliseconds (Neath & Brown, 2006) to minutes (Bjork & Whitten, 1 974) to days and weeks (Glenberg, Bradley, Kraus, & Renzaglia, 1983) to months (Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Prohaska, 1992) and even to years (Sehulster, 1989). While such functions are less commonly observed in memory tasks thought to tap semantic memory, there are two such reports, one involving recall of US presidents (Roediger & Crowder, 1976) and the other verses of well-known hymns (Maylor, 2002). ' In this paper, we report a third example of a serial position function from semantic memory, free recall of Canadian prime ministers. We then test whether a general explanation of serial position functions that applies to both episodic and semantic memory systems fits these new data. To the extent that the model fits, it offers further evidence for the view that there exist common memory principles that apply regardless of the hypothetical underlying memory system (Surprenant & Neath, 2009). Serial Position Functions in Semantic Memory Roediger and Crowder (1976) reported a standard-looking serial position function when students were asked to recall the presidents of the United States.2 There was a substantial primacy effect, a pronounced recency effect, and quite poor recall of middle presidents with the exception of Lincoln. This latter finding was likened to a von Restorff or isolation effect. Similar results were reported by Crowder (1993), who updated the results to include Carter and Reagan. Of interest, those presidents in the recency portion of the list in 1976 (e.g., Nixon and Ford) were less well recalled in 1993 than those presidents who replaced them in that part of the list (e.g., Reagan and Bush). Healy and colleagues (Healy, Havas, & Parker, 2000; Healy & Parker, 2001) have replicated this result when including Clinton. The second demonstration of a serial position function in semantic memory was reported by Maylor (2002). She presented churchgoers with six verses of well-known hymns in random order and asked them to rearrange the verses to reflect the correct order. Importantly, she had a control group of subjects who were unfamiliar with the hymns. Whether one looked at just the proportion correct of the churchgoers or the proportion correct adjusted for level of performance of the nonchurchgoers, there was a primacy effect, a recency effect, and the midlist items were poorly recalled. SIMPLE SIMPLE (Scale Independent Memory, Perception, and Learning) is a relative distinctiveness model of memory that was originally designed to explain serial position effects in episodic memory tasks (Brown, Neath, & Chater, 2007) but it has also been fit to both the presidential data (Neath, 2010) and the hymn data (Neath & Brown, 2006). …

Ian Neath

Papers

Manipulations of irrelevant information: suffix effects with articulatory suppression and irrelevant speech.

Three more semantic serial position functions and a SIMPLE explanation

Fill-in and infill errors in order memory.

Modeling distributions of immediate memory effects: no strategies needed?

Further evidence that similar principles govern recall from episodic and semantic memory: the Canadian prime ministerial serial position function.