Showing papers in "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition in 1990"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a laboratory paradigm for studying prospective memory and examined whether or not this type of memory is especially difficult for the elderly and showed that external aids and unfamiliar target events benefit prospective memory performance.
Abstract: We develop a laboratory paradigm for studying prospective memory and examine whether or not this type of memory is especially difficult for the elderly. In two experiments, young and old subjects were given a prospective memory test (they were asked to perform an action when a target event occurred) and three tests of retrospective memory (short-term memory, free recall, and recognition). From the perspective that aging disrupts mainly self-initiated retrieval processes, large age-related decrements in prospective memory were anticipated. However, despite showing reliable age differences on retrospective memory tests, both experiments showed no age deficits in prospective memory. Moreover, regression analyses produced no reliable relation between the prospective and retrospective memory tasks. Also, the experiments showed that external aids and unfamiliar target events benefit prospective memory performance. These results suggest some basic differences between prospective and retrospective memory.
1,051Â citations
TL;DR: Two commonly used approaches to analyzing repeated measures designs are considered and it is argued that both approaches use inappropriate error terms for testing the effects of independent variables.
Abstract: Repeated measures designs involving nonorthogonal variables are being used with increasing frequency in cognitive psychology. Researchers usually analyze the data from such designs inappropriately, probably because the designs are not discussed in standard textbooks on regression. Two commonly used approaches to analyzing repeated measures designs are considered in this article. It is argued that both approaches use inappropriate error terms for testing the effects of independent variables. A more appropriate analysis is presented, and two alternative computational procedures for the analysis are illustrated.
793Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of variations in the relative frequency of the knowledge of results acquisition on motor skill learning were examined in three experiments in which the effect of variation in the frequency of knowledge acquisition was examined.
Abstract: Three experiments are reported in which the effects of variations in the relative frequency of the knowledge of results acquisition on motor skill learning are examined.
673Â citations
TL;DR: In this study, the role of attention, sequence structure, and effector specificity in learning a structured sequence of actions is investigated.
Abstract: In this study we investigated the role of attention, sequence structure, and effector specificity in learning a structured sequence of actions
635Â citations
TL;DR: The cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in capturing and representing the structure of comprehensible information provide one source of individual differences in general comprehension skill.
Abstract: For adults, skill at comprehending written language correlates highly with skill at comprehending spoken language. Does this general comprehension skill extend beyond language-based modalities? And if it does, what cognitive processes and mechanisms differentiate individuals who are more versus less proficient in general comprehension skill? In our first experiment, we found that skill in comprehending written and auditory stories correlates highly with skill in comprehending nonverbal, picture stories. This finding supports the hypothesis that general comprehension skill extends beyond language. We also found support for the hypotheses that poorer access to recently comprehended information marks less proficient general comprehension skill (Experiment 2) because less skilled comprehenders develop too many mental substructures during comprehension (Experiment 3), perhaps because they inefficiently suppress irrelevant information (Experiment 4). Thus, the cognitive processes and mechanisms involved in capturing and representing the structure of comprehensible information provide one source of individual differences in general comprehension skill.
589Â citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of foveal processing difficulty on the perceptual span in reading and found that less parafoveal information was acquired when processing in the fovea was difficult.
Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of foveal processing difficulty on the perceptual span in reading. Subjects read sentences while their eye movements were recorded. By changing the text contingent on the reader's current point of fixation, foveal processing difficulty and the availability of parafoveal word information were independently manipulated. In Experiment 1, foveal processing difficulty was manipulated by lexical frequency, and in Experiment 2 foveal difficulty was manipulated by syntactic complexity. In both experiments, less parafoveal information was acquired when processing in the fovea was difficult. We conclude that the perceptual span is variable and attentionally constrained. We also discuss the implications of the results for current models of the relation between covert visual-spatial attention and eye movement control in reading.
475Â citations
TL;DR: It is found that subjects were less sensitive to grammatical violations that preserved their chunks than to violations that did not, and the theory of competitive chunking is derived and successfully reproduces, via computer simulations, both Miller's experimental results and the author's own.
Abstract: : When exposed to a regular stimulus field, for instance generated by an artificial grammar, subjects unintentionally learn to respond efficiently to the underlying structure: Miller (1958) reports that subjects memorize letter strings generated by an artificial grammar faster than randomly generated strings. Reber (1967) reports that, following rote memorization of exemplar sentences, subjects efficiently discriminate grammatical from non-grammatical strings. We explored the hypothesis that the learning process is chunking and that grammatical knowledge is implicitly encoded in a hierarchical network of chunks. Grammatical judgments are then based on the degree to which integrated representations of strings can be built using those chunks. We trained subjects on exemplar sentences while inducing them to form specific chunks. Their grammatical knowledge was then tested with a discrimination task. We found that subjects were less sensitive to grammatical violations that preserved their chunks than to violations that did not. We derived the theory of competitive chunking (CC) and found that is successfully reproduces, via computer simulations, both Miller's experimental results and our own. Keywords: Unintentional learning, Artificial grammars, Chunking, Perception(Psychology).
397Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether normal subjects can perform an implicit test without becoming aware that the test items were previously encountered in the study phase of the experiment, and they found that single word priming and associative priming reflect different memory processes because the former and not the latter effect can be observed in unaware subjects.
Abstract: In three experiments we examined whether normal subjects can perform an implicit test without becoming aware that the test items were previously encountered in the study phase of the experiment. Experiment 1 assessed single word priming with the stem completion task, and subjects who reported awareness/unawareness that the test items were previously encoded in the study task showed equivalent priming. Experiments 2a-c and 3 assessed associative priming with the stem completion task, and in this case, only subjects who were aware that the test items were previously encountered showed associative priming effects. These findings suggest that single word priming and associative priming reflect different memory processes because the former and not the latter effect can be observed in unaware subjects.
368Â citations
TL;DR: Five experiments that further support and extended the generality of the mirror effect are reported and a theory of the effect and predictions that derive from the theory are presented.
Abstract: The mirror effect is a regularity in recognition memory that requires reexamination of current views of memory. Five experiments that further support and extended the generality of the mirror effect are reported. The first two experiments vary word frequency. The third and fourth vary both word frequency and concreteness. The fifth experiment varies word frequency, concreteness, and the subject's operations on the words. The experiments furnish data on the stability of the effect, its relation to response times, its extension to multiple mirror effects, and its extension beyond stimulus variables to operation variables. A theory of the effect and predictions that derive from the theory are presented.
352Â citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the effects of word length in simple word span tasks and complex operation and reading span tasks, and found that the relationship between these tasks and reading comprehension was not well understood.
Abstract: Five experiments investigated the effects of word length in simple word span tasks and complex operation and reading span tasks and the relationship between these tasks and reading comprehension.
339Â citations
TL;DR: This article found that the tendency to report suggested details was set in opposition to ability to remember their source by telling subjects not to report anything from the narrative, and suggested details were more often reported on misled than control items in low but not the high-discriminability condition.
Abstract: The hypothesis that misleading suggestions can impair recollection was supported in a study inspired by Jacoby and Kelley's (1988) "logic of opposition" and Lindsay and Johnson's (1989a) hypotheses about source memory. Tendency to report suggested details was set in opposition to ability to remember their source by telling subjects not to report anything from the narrative. Conditions were manipulated so that in the high- but not the low-discriminability condition it was easy to remember the suggestions and their source. At test, subjects were told (truthfully) that any information in the narrative relevant to the questions was wrong. Suggested details were more often reported on misled than control items in the low- but not the high-discriminability condition, yet suggestions impaired accurate recall of event details in both conditions. Loftus and her colleagues (e.g., Loftus, Miller, & Burns, 1978) developed a three-stage procedure for studying eyewitnesses' susceptibility to misleading suggestions. Subjects first view a visual event, then receive verbal information that includes misleading suggestions about details in the event, and then take a test of memory for those details. For example, subjects might view a slide sequence that includes a photograph of a man holding a hammer; some subjects would later read a narrative description of the event which mentions that the man was holding a wrench, whereas others would read a narrative that does not mention the kind of tool (McCloskey & Zaragoza, 1985a). In the standard suggestibility test, subjects are later asked whether they saw a hammer (the event detail) or a wrench (the suggested detail) in the slides. Subjects more often err on misled items (i.e., event details about which misleading suggestions were given) than on control items. This phenomenon is well-established, but its interpretation is not. Two issues have been debated: (a) whether suggestions impair subjects' ability to remember event details and (b) whether subjects actually believe they saw the suggested details. Each of these issues is reviewed below.
TL;DR: It is concluded that verb information is not used by the parser to modify its initial parsing strategies, although it may be used to guide subsequent reanalysis.
Abstract: We investigated whether readers use verb information to aid in their initial parsing of temporarily ambiguous sentences. In the first experiment, subjects' eye movements were recorded. In the second and third experiments, subjects read sentences by using a noncumulative and cumulative word-by-word self-paced paradigm, respectively. The results of the first two experiments supported Frazier and Rayner's (1982) garden-path model of sentence comprehension: Verb information did not influence the initial operation of the parser. The third experiment indicated that the cumulative version of the self-paced paradigm is not appropriate for studying on-line parsing. We conclude that verb information is not used by the parser to modify its initial parsing strategies, although it may be used to guide subsequent reanalysis.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that adding extra items to a list cause memory for the other items to decrease (the list-length effect), while weakening some items on a list harms free recall of the remaining list items.
Abstract: Extra items added to a list cause memory for the other items to decrease (the list-length effect). In one of the present studies we show that strengthening (or weakening) some items on a list harms (helps) free recall of the remaining list items. This is termed the list-strength effect. However, in seven recognition studies the list-strength effect was either absent or negative. This held whether strengthening was accomplished by extra study time or extra repetitions. The seven studies used various means to control rehearsal strategies, thereby providing evidence against the possibility that the findings were due to redistribution of rehearsal or effort from stronger to weaker items within a list. Current models appear unable to predict these results. We suggest that different retrieval operations underlie recall and recognition, as in the SAM model of Gillund and Shiffrin (1984), which can be made to fit the results with certain relatively minor modifications.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the hypothesis that the use of earlier examples promotes generalizations about problem types, thereby influencing what is learned about the domain, and the implications of the view that remindings lead to generalizations.
Abstract: Novices often are reminded of earlier examples during problem solving. Four experiments examine the hypothesis that the use of earlier examples promotes generalizations about problem types, thereby influencing what is learned about the domain. Subjects studied four probability principles with word problems and then tried to solve two tests problems for each principle. For half of the first tests, cues indicated which study problem might be used. All second tests were uncued. Discussion focuses on the distinction about how problem comparisons are used in learning and the implications of the view that remindings lead to generalizations
TL;DR: The findings suggest that several component mechanisms are involved in the processing of hierarchical levels of structure, each linked to specific anatomical regions in patients with lesions centered in posterior superior temporal gyrus.
Abstract: Subjects identified target letters that occurred randomly at the local or global level in a divided attention task. The visual angle of the stimuli was varied. Neurologically intact controls showed a reaction time advantage for local targets which increased as visual angle increased. Patients with lesions centered in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) showed a larger local advantage than controls if the lesion was on the right and a global advantage if the lesion was on the left. STG patients were no more influenced by visual angle than were controls. Control subjects also showed the usual interference of global distractors on responding to local targets. STG patients showed little evidence of interference. Control patients with lesions centered in the rostral inferior parietal lobe performed normally. The findings suggest that several component mechanisms are involved in the processing of hierarchical levels of structure, each linked to specific anatomical regions. Language: en
TL;DR: The authors examined how feature-specific pattern-analysing processes affect implicit and explicit memory test performance, words were displayed for study and testing in 2 visually distinct formats: upside down vs. normal for Experiment 1, upside down versus. backward for Experiment 2, and in Applesoft pudgy vs. shadow typeface for Experiment 3.
Abstract: To examine how feature-specific pattern-analysing processes affect implicit and explicit memory test performance, words were displayed for study and testing in 2 visually distinct formats: upside down vs. normal for Experiment 1, upside down vs. backward for Experiement 2, and in Applesoft pudgy vs. shadow typeface for Experiment 3. Implicit and explicit memory were assessed with word identification and recognition tests, respectively.
TL;DR: In this paper, four experiments investigate printed word frequency and subjective rated familiarity were presented and found a reaction time advantage for high-familiarity and high-frequency words was found in visual and auditory lexical decision.
Abstract: Four experiments investigate printed word frequency and subjective rated familiarity. Words of varied printed frequency and subjective familiarity were presented. A reaction time advantage for high-familiarity and high-frequency words was found in visual (Experiment 1) and auditory (Experiment 2) lexical decision. In Experiments 3 and 4, a cued naming task elicited a naming response after a specified delay after presentation. In Experiment 3, naming of visual words showed a frequency effect with no naming delay. The frequency effect diminished at longer delay intervals. Naming times for auditorily presented words (Experiment 4) showed no frequency effect at any delay. Both naming experiments showed familiarity effects. The relevance of these results are discussed in terms of the role of printed frequency for theories of lexical access, task- and modality-specific effects, and the nature of subjective familiarity.
TL;DR: In this article, the role of acquired error-detection capabilities in skill learning was investigated by manipulating the delay of knowledge of results (KR), and the authors found that very short KR-delays interfere with learning, perhaps by degrading the acquisition of error detection capabilities.
Abstract: The role of acquired error-detection capabilities in skill learning was investigated by manipulating the delay of knowledge of results (KR). Compared with delayed feedback, instantaneous KR should be detrimental to the learning of error-detection capabilities because it should tend to block spontaneous subjective evaluation of response-produced feedback. Weaker error-detection capabilities should then be evident on delayed no-KR retention tests. During acquisition, one group of subjects received KR after a delay of a few seconds while another group received KR instantaneously; then both were evaluated on several retention tests. Using a timing task with two reversals in direction (Experiment 1) and a coincident-timing task (Experiment 2), we found that, relative to delayed feedback, instantaneous KR degraded learning as measured on delayed retention tests. Although the KR-delay interval has traditionally been considered of minor importance for skill learning, the present findings suggest that very short KR-delays interfere with learning, perhaps by degrading the acquisition of error-detection capabilities. During the 1970s, numerous researchers suggested that skill learning not only results in more effective movement performance but also is manifested in terms of heightened sensitivity of the learner to detect and correct errors. Since then, several attempts have been undertaken to measure the strength of error-detection capabilities by means of subjective-error estimations (e.g., Newell, 1974; Newell & Boucher, 1974; Newell & Chew, 1974; Schmidt & White, 1972; Schmidt & Wrisberg, 1973). Using this technique, Schmidt and White (1972) found that correlations between objective and estimated error increased with practice on a ballistic-timing task, which was interpreted as the acquisition of the capability to detect errors with task experience. Various theories of motor learning (Adams, 1971; Schmidt, 1975) accounted for these findings by assuming that response-produced feedback (from the moving limbs, audition, vision, etc.) can be related to information about the success of the movement in terms of the environ
TL;DR: This paper examined the sources of bias in reports of the time that has elapsed since a target event occurred and found that reported times are less than actual times, and that this forward bias is not a result of misrepresentation of elapsed time in memory, but rather reflects two factors that arise in constructing reports from inexact information in memory.
Abstract: The present article concerns the way temporal information is represented in memory and the processes used in estimating when events occurred. In particular, we examine the sources of bias in reports of the time that has elapsed since a target event occurred. We find that reported times are less than actual times. Evidence is presented that this forward bias is not a result of misrepresentation of elapsed time in memory, but rather reflects two factors that arise in constructing reports from inexact information in memory. One factor is subjects' imposition of an upper boundary on reports, reflecting their notion of what would constitute reasonable answers to the question asked. This boundary truncates the distribution of reports, producing forward bias. The other factor is subjects' use of rounded (prototypic) values; these values, although stated in days, actually represent larger temporal categories (e.g., 14, 21, 30, 60 days ago). The distance between rounded values increases as the temporal categories become larger. Because of decreasing precision in memory and this increase in the distance between rounded values, a broader range of values is rounded down than up, thus producing forward bias.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined transfer of mathematical problem-solving procedures learned in content-rich quantitative domains to isomorphic algebra word problems dealing with other contents, and two experiments examined transfer from quantitative domain to algebraic domain.
Abstract: Two experiments examined transfer of mathematical problem-solving procedures learned in content-rich quantitative domains to isomorphic algebra word problems dealing with other contents
TL;DR: This prediction that conceptually driven implicit memory teasks should be affected by a LOP manipulation was investigated with 2 CDI tasks: general knowledge retrieval and category exemplar generation.
Abstract: Level of processing (LOP) has often been shown to affect performance on explicit memory tasks, but not on implicit memory tasks. However, the framework of Roediger, weldon, and Challis (1989) predicts that conceptually driven implicit (CDI) memory teasks should be affected by a LOP manipulation, because study and test tasks share common conceptual processes. This prediction was investigated with 2 CDI tasks: general knowledge retrieval and category exemplar generation.
TL;DR: This article found that prime-mask stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) with presence-absence detection judgments are associated with semantic judgments, and showed that SOAs with threshold-setting tasks can influence masked priming.
Abstract: Two lexical decision experiments compared semantic and repetition priming by masked words. Experiment 1 established prime-mask stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) with presence-absence detection judgments. Primes presented at detection-threshold SOAs produced equal facilitation for repeated and semantically related targets: 26 ms and 24 ms. Experiment 2 established SOAs with semantic judgments. Primes presented at 70% of the semantic-threshold SOA to mimic the exposure conditions of Experiment 1 produced slightly greater facilitation for repeated targets but a tendency toward inhibition for semantically related targets: 38 ms and -6 ms. These results confirm Dagenbach, Carr, and Wilhelmsen's (1989) report that strategies induced by threshold-setting tasks can influence masked priming. In addition, Experiment 2 suggests a mechanism for retrieving weakly activated semantic codes into consciousness that relies on the center-surround principle to enhance activation of sought-for codes and to inhibit related codes stored nearby in the semantic network.
TL;DR: The authors compared the predictions from several kinds of metamemory judgments (on the same set of items), both in terms of their predictive accuracy and the commonality of predictions, and found that ease-of-learning judgments had the least predictive accuracy.
Abstract: We compared the predictions from several kinds of metamemory judgments (on the same set of items), both in terms of their predictive accuracy and in terms of the commonality of predictions. Undergraduates made judgments about the ease with which they could learn each item in a list (ease-of-learning judgments); then they learned every item, either to a minimal criterion of learning or with overlearning, and made judgments about how well they knew each item (judgments of knowing); finally, they returned 4 weeks later for a retention session and made feeling-of-knowing judgments on every time they could not recall, after which a recognition test assessed predictive accuracy. Ease-of-learning judgments had the least predictive accuracy. Surprisingly, however, the recognition of nonrecalled items was predicted equally well by judgments of knowing (made 4 weeks earlier) as by feeling-of-knowing judgments (made immediately prior to recognition). Moreover, those two kinds of judgments were only weakly correlated with each other, which implies that they do not tap memory in the same way.
TL;DR: It is shown that a large number of current models fail to predict the list-strength effect, and constraints on the future development of such models are suggested.
Abstract: Ratcliff, Clark, and Shiffrin (1990) examined the list-strength effect: the effect of strengthening (or weakening) some list items upon memory for other list items. The list-strength effect was missing or negative in recognition, missing or positive in cued recall, and large and positive in free recall. We show that a large number of current models fail to predict these findings. A variant of the SAM model of Gillund and Shiffrin (1984), involving a differentiation hypothesis, can handle the data. A variant of MINERVA 2 (Hintzman, 1986, 1988) comes close but has some problems. Successful variants of a variety of composite and network models were not found (e.g., Ackley, Hinton, & Sejnowski, 1985; Anderson, 1972, 1973; Metcalfe Eich, 1982; Murdock, 1982; Pike, 1984). The results suggest constraints on the future development of such models.
TL;DR: For example, this article found that free recall and cued recall were better for words associated with the remember instruction, whereas directed forgetting did not influence stem completion (an implicit memory test).
Abstract: The notion that different aspects of memory are assessed by explicit and implicit memory tests was supported by behavioral and electrophysiological results. In a study-test procedure, 24 subjects were instructed to remember some words and to forget other words. Free recall and cued recall were better for words associated with the remember instruction, whereas directed forgetting did not influence stem completion (an implicit memory test). Event-related brain potentials elicited during study differed as a function of subsequent memory performance for free recall and cued recall, but not for stem completion. These results implicate encoding differences in the distinction between the 2 types of memory test. Factors governing whether explicit retrieval affects performance on an implicit memory test, mechanisms that may underlie directed-forgetting effects, and the importance of electrophysiological correlates of memory are also discussed.
TL;DR: It is suggested that a single exposure of a novel, nonverbal stimulus is sufficient to establish a representation in memory that is capable of supporting long-lived perceptual priming, and recognition memory showed significant loss over the same delay.
Abstract: The article reports an investigation of implicit and explicit memory for novel, visual patterns. Implicit memory was assessed by a speeded perception task, and explicit memory by a four-alternative, forced-choice recognition task. Tests were given either immediately after testing or 7 days later. The results suggest that a single exposure of a novel, nonverbal stimulus is sufficient to establish a representation in memory that is capable of supporting long-lived perceptual priming. In contrast, recognition memory showed significant loss over the same delay. Performance measures in the two tasks showed stochastic independence on the first trial after a single exposure to each pattern. Finally, a specific occurrence of a previously studied item could be retrieved from explicit memory but did not affect the accuracy of perception in the implicit memory test. The results extend the domain of experimental dissociations between explicit and implicit memory to include novel, nonverbal stimuli.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors attempted to unravel effects of controlled processing in a bilingual Stroop situation and found that controlled processing had a negative effect on the performance of the Stroop task.
Abstract: In this study, the authors attempted to unravel effects of controlled processing in a bilingual Stroop situation.
TL;DR: In this article, the effectiveness of odors as memory retrieval cues was examined using odors and incidental learning procedures, and three experiments were conducted using odour-based and non-odor-based retrieval cues.
Abstract: Three experiments, using odors and incidental learning procedures, examined the effectiveness of odors as memory retrieval cues.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated whether increased processing increases the relation between test performance predictions and test performance, i.e. increases calibration of comprhension, and they found that increased processing increased the relation of test performance prediction and test performances.
Abstract: Two experiments investigated whether increased processing increases the relation between test performance predictions and test performance, i.e. increases calibration of comprhension. The amount of processing of text was manipulated by having subjects read intact text or text with deleted letters.
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of temporal and ordinal factors in auditorily and visually presented lists that were temporally organized by distractor materials interpolated between memory items, and the results were consistent with Glenberg's (1987) temporal distinctiveness theory.
Abstract: Recency, in remembering a series of events, reflects the simple fact that memory is vivid for what has just happened but deteriorates over time. Theories based on distinctiveness, an alternative to the multistore model, assert that the last few events in a series are well remembered because their times of occurrence are more highly distinctive than those of earlier items. Three experiments examined the role of temporal and ordinal factors in auditorily and visually presented lists that were temporally organized by distractor materials interpolated between memory items. With uniform distractor periods, the results were consistent with Glenberg's (1987) temporal distinctiveness theory. When the procedure was altered so that distractor periods became progressively shorter from the beginning to the end of the list, the results were consistent for only the visual modality; the auditory modality produced a different and unpredicted (by the theory) pattern of results, thus falsifying the claim that the auditory modality derives more benefit from temporal information than the visual modality. We distinguish serial order information from specifically temporal information, arguing that the former may be enhanced by auditory presentation but that the two modalities are more nearly equal with respect to the latter.