Showing papers in "Psychological Review in 1972"

Recognition and retrieval processes in free recall

Abstract: A model of free recall is described which identifies two processes in free recall: a retrieval process by which the subject accesses the words, and a recognition process by which the subject decides whether an implicitly retrieved word is a to-be-recalled word. Submodels for the recognition process and the retrieval process are described. The recognition model assumes that during the study phase, the subject associates "list markers" to the to-be-recalled words. The establishment of such associates is postulated to be an all-or-none stochastic process. In the test phase, the subject recognizes to-be-recalled words by deciding which words have relevant list markers as associates. A signal detectability model is developed for this decision process. The retrieval model is introduced as a computer program that tags associative paths between list words. In several experiments, subjects studied and were tested on a sequence of overlapping sublists sampled from a master set of common nouns. The twoprocess model predicts that the subject's ability to retrieve the words should increase as more overlapping sublists are studied, but his ability to differentiate the words on the most recent list should deteriorate. Experiments confirmed this predicted dissociation of recognition and retrieval. Further predictions derived from the free recall model were also supported. This paper has several aims: First, we offer a critique of two popular "strength" theories, one which relates recall and recognition to the strength of one and the same memory trace, and another which relates only recognition memory to a similar strength measure; second, we develop a particular conceptualization about recognition memory which we believe satisfies the criticisms of the traditional strength theory; third, we illustrate how that recognition mechanism could be interfaced with a retrieval mechanism so as to yield a viable theory about multilist free recall. Along with reviewing published data relevant to these points, we also shall present new 1 This research was supported by Grant MH

On the distinction between density and crowding: some implications for future research.

Abstract: Author(s): Stokols, D | Abstract: Identifies a distinction between the physical condition, density, defined purely in terms of spatial parameters, and the experience of crowding, a motivational state aroused through the interaction of spatial, social, and personal factors, and directed toward the alleviation of perceived spatial restriction. Future studies pertaining to augmentation of space, subjective reports of restriction, observational indexes of tension, and physiological indicators of strain are suggested. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1972 American Psychological Association.

Cognitive basis of language learning in infants.

Abstract: (1984). Cognitive Basis Of Language Learning In Infants. Journal of Visual Verbal Languaging: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 43-53.

Preperceptual Images, Processing Time, and Perceptual Units in Auditory Perception

Abstract: Publisher Summary The primary recognition process represents a synthesis of the preperceptual representation of these speech sounds. This chapter focuses on the temporal course of the primary recognition or synthesis process. It presents a schematic representation of the primary recognition process in the framework of an information-processing model. This representation of the recognition process rests on certain assumptions about the structure and function of the human information-processing system: (1) the preperceptual auditory image holds information about the stimulus and this information remain there until primary recognition has occurred, and (2) a description of this stimulus information is available in long-term memory so that recognition can occur. The primary recognition process finds the best match between the preperceptual image and the description in long-term memory. Recognition of the stimulus involves a transformation of the information in the preperceptual auditory image, resulting in a synthesized percept of the stimulus. The stimulus for recognizing speech is a sound pattern that can be described by fluctuations in sound pressure over time.

Subjective contours and apparent depth.

Abstract: Schumann (1904) investigated the physical parameters which affect the perception of contour. He reported that for a contour to be perceived the prerequisite was some relatively abrupt local change in brightness or color. In the course of these investigations, however, he noted that under certain favorable conditions contours could be made to appear in areas of the visual field where the physical stimulation was homogenous. As evidence of this, he presented the pattern shown in Figure 1. In the center of this pattern most observers see a white square, bounded by intermittent black and white on either side. Since the contours delineating this square are not actually present in the stimulation, these phenomena have been called "subjective contours" (Osgood, 1951). The subjective contours in the Schumann figure are somewhat unstable. Not all observers see these contour lines, and when they are carefully fixated, they tend to disappear. Their appearance is generally enhanced when the configuration is of small visual angle. All of these factors led Schumann to conclude that subjective contours were the result of some organizational

A neural timing theory for response times and the psychophysics of intensity.

Abstract: This psychophysical theory involves the following fundamental assumptions. At a hypothetical neural decision center, signal intensity is represented by several independent, parallel Poisson processes, whose rates are the same power function of physical intensity. All decisions about signal intensity are based on the observed times between successive neural pulses. The total number of these times observed per channel is at the option of the subject, up to the size of a memory store which is emptied when a decision is made. Overall response time is the sum of the decision latency, which depends both on the signal intensity and the decision rule, and a residual latency which is only assumed to be bounded. Decision rules are suggested for discrimination, recognition, magnitude estimation, detection, and simple reaction time designs, and predictions are derived from the theory in these cases and compared with existing data. Various familiar generalizations, such as Weber's and Bloch's laws and the inverse relation between reaction time and intensity, derive naturally from the theory. Crude estimates of all parameters—the exponent of the power function, the number of parallel channels, the size of the buffer store, and the bound on the residual times—are provided for sound intensity; estimates from different experimental designs appear to be reasonably consistent.

Laws of the simple visual reaction time

Abstract: Fourteen studies from the literature on the reaction time (RT) to a flash of light provided sufficient methodological detail and data to allow for a quantitative analysis of the effects of the following selected variables: luminance, duration, size of stimulus, response to onset versus termination of the signal, and monocular versus binocular viewing. Mathematical relationships were developed which can be used to predict binocular rts over a wide range of luminance, signal duration, and signal size. It was also shown that the product of rt and luminance may be used to represent a response criterion in the sense implied by the theory of signal detection as developed in recent latency models. The results were interpreted as suggesting two general energy processing activities--criterion development and an impulse "countdown"--going on in parallel which are in series with a sensory delay.

Conjoint-Measurement Framework for the Study of Probabilistic Information Processing.

Abstract: The theory of conjoint measurement described by Krantz et al. (1971) is shown to indicate how a descriptive model of human processing of probabilistic information built around Bayes' rule is to be tested and how it is to be used to obtain subjective scale values. Specific relationships concerning these scale values are shown to emerge, and the theoretical prospects resulting from this development are discussed.

Timing and discrimination of shock density in avoidance.

Abstract: Presents a theoretical account of asymptotic avoidance behavior which deals with shock density effects Behavior at asymptote is characterized by the operation of 2 processes An elementary scalar timing process generates response latencies proportional to the length of the preshock interval Howeve