Showing papers in "Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1970"

Associative encoding and retrieval: Weak and strong cues.

Abstract: Data from three experiments are reported in support of the encoding specificity hypothesis of retrieval: the effectiveness of retrieval cues depends upon the specific, format o f encoding of the to-be-remembered (TBR) words at the time o f their storage, regardless of how strongly the cues are associated with the TBR words in other situations. In the critical experimental conditions, TBR words were presented for study in presence of weakly associated cue words, Recall of the TBR words in the presence of these cues was greatly facilitated in comparison with noncued recall; recall of the TBR words in presence of their strongest normative associates, which had not been seen at input, did not differ from noncued recall.

Influence of imaged pictures and sounds on detection of visual and auditory signals

Abstract: The present study compared sensitivity for auditory and visual signals in a simple detection task and in a related task in which ,9 was also imaging mental pictures and sounds. Sensitivity (rf') was reduced during imagery; within the imaging conditions, it was smaller when image and signal were both auditory or both visual than for cross-modal conditions and smaller with unfamiliar than familiar images. Likelihood ratio (Lx) was also smaller in the isomodal imaging conditions, as there were more visual false alarms during visual imagery and more auditory false alarms during auditory imagery. The data are not consistent with the assumption that d' is lower during imagery due to distraction; they do not entirely fit a channel competition model, but suggest that imagery functions as an internal signal which is confused with the external signal. Perky's (1910) effect has been difficult to explain: she found that if Os were asked to describe their images of common objects while dim facsimiles of the objects were presented before them, they reported only an "imagery," not a "perceptual," experience. This finding seemed paradoxical: in ordinary situations, imagery can be distinguished from real stimuli virtually 100% of the time; yet Perky's Os confused external stimuli with the images they were describing and seemed unable to discriminate the real physical signals. It is possible to explain the seeming inconsistency between Perky's experiment and everyday experience by inferring that the two events are at antipodal points on a continuum. The continuum would represent a class of conscious events characterized by activity in the sensory pathways and some central expectancies and memories, encompassing both

Sequential effects and memory in category judgments.

Abstract: Duke University The effects of previous stimuli on responses in an absolute judgment of loudnesses situation were investigated when feedback was and was not provided. Whether or not information feedback was provided, responses were assimilated to the value of the immediately previous stimulus in the series. The effects of stimuli more than one trial back in the sequence depend on the presence or absence of feedback. When the entire stimulus scale was shifted up or down to 5 db. from the level on the previous day, a substantial shift occurred in the constant error of judgment in the direction of the scale shift, providing evidence that a relatively long-term (24-hr.) memory process was being used in the judgment situation. None of the currently available models is adequate to account for both these results and those of earlier studies. The form of the sequential dependencies observed may depend at least partially on the presence or absence of an identification function from stimuli to responses. The effects of the previous sequence of stimuli on judgment in a psychophysical task have long been of special interest, and the nature of the effects discovered seems to be different in different experimental situations. Some investigators report an inverse relation (contrast) between the response and the preceding stimuli (Fernberger, 1920; Helson, 1948; Long, 1937; Needham, 1935; Parducci, Marshall, & Degner, 1966), while others find a direct relation (assimilation) in addition to, or in place of, contrast (Barry, 1964; Garner, 1953; Holland & Lockhead, 1968; Parducci & Marshall,

Processing redundant information

Abstract: When stimuli differed on two dimensions (size and brightness), either of which could furnish sufficient information for a correct response, reaction times were faster than when stimuli differed on only one dimension. This result holds true even when individual differences in dimension preferences are taken into account. A model of parallel processing of the different dimensions is proposed and extended to Posner's taxonomy of informationprocessing tasks. The model emphasizes 6\"s ability to initiate a successive processing stage as soon as sufficient information for a correct response has been gathered. This ability enables .? to capitalize on the variance of the times of the component processes by which the values of the different dimensions arc determined.

Decay and interference effects in the short-term retention of a discrete motor act.

Abstract: The short-term retention of force responses was measured. The dependent variables were the absolute and algebraic errors made by S in attempting to reproduce a criterion force during recall trials. In Exp. I, retention was measured over five unfilled intervals ranging 4-60 sec. Forgetting, i.e., an increase in errors, was not found. Experiment II was a partial replication of Exp. I, with the addition that during half of the retention intervals, 5 was required to count backwards. The result was a decrease in error over a 30-sec. retention interval for both filled and unfilled conditions. Significantly larger errors were associated with the filled condition. In Exp. Ill, the recall response was found to be shifted in the direction of the relative magnitude of an interpolated force to the criterion force. Also, the increase in error associated with filled retention intervals was successfully replicated. For Exp. IV, successive repetitions of the criterion force prior to the recall trial were found to produce an increase, not decrease, in error at recall. All four experiments were characterized by overshooting response sets (positive algebraic errors) at recall. Detailed comparisons with available data from earlier motor short-term memory (STM) studies indicated that the latter were characterized by undershooting response sets at recall but that there was a set of consistent findings across the earlier studies and the present one, though apparent differences in memory functions were obtained. Consistencies were with respect to the directional shifts occurring in the algebraic error scores as a function of various independent variables. The different memory functions were then related to the interactions of the different response sets with these algebraic error shifts. A dual process theory of motor STM, incorporating decay and interference features, is advanced to account for the set of findings, and similarities with dual process theories of verbal STM are noted.

Retroactive interference in short-term recognition memory for pitch.

Abstract: Investigated the effects of different retroactive stimuli on pitch discrimination in a short-term recognition memory task. 4 female undergraduates served as Ss in Exp. I, and 50 in Exp. II. Tones, Gaussian noise, and “blank” stimuli were employed in the retroactive (interference) interval. The effects of different stimuli in the interference (I) interval are highly dependent on the strategies of S. Tones or noise in the I interval produce more forgetting than blank I intervals. Decrease in accuracy of perceptual memory over time with filled I intervals was attributed to interference rather than decay. A storage-forgetting model of perceptual memory described the quantitative results accurately. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)