Showing papers on "Verbal learning published in 1973"

Human Associative Memory

Abstract: Published in 1980, part of the Experimental Psychology series. This book proposes and tests a theory about human memory, about how a person encodes, retains, and retrieves information from memory. This edition contains two major parts. First is the historical analysis of associationism and its countertraditions. This still provides the framework that has been used to relate the current research to an important intellectual tradition. This is reproduced without comment from the original book; historical analyses do not need as rapid revision as theoretical analyses. The second part of the book reproduces the major components of the HAM theory.

Learning 10,000 pictures.

Abstract: Four experiments are reported which examined memory capacity and retrieval speed for pictures and for words. Single-trial learning tasks were employed throughout, with memory performance assessed by forced-choice recognition, recall measures or choice reaction-time tasks. The main experimental findings were: (1) memory capacity, as a function of the amount of material presented, follows a general power law with a characteristic exponent for each task; (2) pictorial material obeys this power law and shows an overall superiority to verbal material. The capacity of recognition memory for pictures is almost limitless, when measured under appropriate conditions; (3) when the recognition task is made harder by using more alternatives, memory capacity stays constant and the superiority of pictures is maintained; (4) picture memory also exceeds verbal memory in terms of verbal recall; comparable recognition/recall ratios are obtained for pictures, words and nonsense syllables; (5) verbal memory shows a higher ret...

The frontal lobes and the regulation of behavior

Abstract: Publisher Summary The frontal lobes play a most important role in human mental activity. Frontal lobe lesions lead to disturbances of conscious behavior. The formal intellect of those patients may remain relatively intact, but they are unable to properly interact with their cultural environment. The delicate components of their mental activity are lost, their critical faculties are violated, and they become spontaneous. Their ability to work out programs of proper behavior, as it were, becomes lost. Specific features of activity of the human frontal lobes may best be investigated under conditions where the patient must fulfill some special task. It is important to study the changes that develop in the frontal lobes of the brain during mental exercise. Electrophysiological methods have been used, along with other methods, to determine the exact nature of that difficulty in mental activity. This chapter discusses the comparison of records of normal subjects and of patients with a delusional form of schizophrenia subjected to special tasks. Mental strain is of particular importance there. When the frontal lobes become nonfunctional, mental activity markedly slows down. The functional state of the cortical frontal lobes and their participation in mental activity are to a considerable degree determined by the corticosubcortical correlations and, above all, by influences exerted by the reticular formation of the midbrain.

Influence of Affective States and Psychoactive Drugs on Verbal Learning and Memory

Abstract: The authors found evidence of impaired performance on serial and free recall verbal learning tasks during depression and mania. Treatment with L-dopa and L-tryptophan significantly improved performance on these tasks, while imipramine, lithium carbonate, and alpha-methyl-para-tyrosine treatments had no effect. These results should be taken into account when using psychotherapeutic approaches designed to teach new response patterns to patients with affective disorders.

What is recalled after hearing a passage

Abstract: MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 Association (Psychological) ; Cognitive Processes; College students; *conceptual Schemes; *Listening Comprehension; *Prose; *Recall (Psychological); *Structural Analysis In order to determine what aspects of information from prose are available for recall after one presentation of a passage and what aspects are learned with additional presentations, two passages were divided into idea units. These units were placed in a logical hierarchical structure for each passage, and scores were assigned to the idea units on the basis of their position in the structure. Sixty-nine undergraduates were divided into three groups equally; each group heard the passages once, twice, or three times before recallingEffects of the logical structure were seen in the kinds of idea units remembered, the stability of these units in consecutive recalls, and the tendency for clustering of idea units on this basis. In addition, serial position, importance of idea units, and order of recall were examined with the recall data. It was found that units high in the logical hierarchy were recalled more frequently than those lower in the hierarchy, that subjects tended to recall groups of units from the passages which were related to one another in the hierarchical structure, and that the stability of each unit recall was substantially related to its position in the logical structure of the passage. Figures and a bibliography are included. (Author/AW) WHAT IS RECALLED AFTER HEARING A PASSAGE? U. S. DEPARTMENT OP HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE 31-1 E F EDUCATION THIS DO IOS L. fIr.'RODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERO OR ORGFN TIDN Oi;:131NATI,-C IT. PO:MS OF VILW OR OPINIONS SLid ELI DO Nur i%L,.,LoantiILY REeRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. Bonnie J. F. Meyer and George W. McConkie

An analysis of the learning deficit following hyoscine administration to man.

Abstract: 1. Twelve volunteer subjects completed a free-recall word learning test, a number-colour association test, and a scanning task after the following treatments: saline 1 ml, hyoscine 0.4 mg, or atropine 0.6 mg, administered by intravenous injection.2. Performance on all three tests was not significantly impaired after atropine.3. Performance on the two learning tests but not on the scanning task, was significantly impaired after hyoscine.4. Analysis of the results of the free-recall word learning test indicates that impairment of learning following hyoscine does not affect recall over intervals of a few seconds, but affects that portion of the learning curve which has been attributed to long-term (or secondary) rather than short-term (or primary) memory.5. The results suggest that hyoscine 0.4 mg may impair learning processes, without significantly depressing other psychological functions, and that the impairment of learning following hyposcine does not affect recall over intervals memory.

The effect of attractiveness on recognition memory for faces.

Abstract: The ability to identify the faces of people one has seen before is important in everyday life, and adults and children show a high level of performance in recognizing faces after a single presentation. For example, Yin (1969) found fewer errors in the recognition of faces than in the recognition of houses, airplanes, or stick figures. Scapinello and Yarmey (1970) reported that faces were remembered better than pictures of dogs and of buildings; and Goldstein and Chance (1970) noted that there was a higher proportion of faces recognized than of ink blots or photographs of snow crystals. While faces in general appear to be better remembered than other homogeneous pictorial material, some experimenters have noted that faces differ in their memorability. Cross, Cross, and Daly (1971) suggest that one characteristic distinguishing more memorable faces from less memorable ones is 'beauty.' They report an experiment in which subjects were better at recognizing faces they had previously identified as 'attractive' than those they had not so identified. Cross et al. required their subjects to scan an array of photographs to select the attractive faces, and while the authors reject an explanation of their results in terms of differences in time spent looking at faces of different attractiveness, they do not present any evidence on that inspection time. Cross et al. offer the hypothesis that attractive faces are more actively attended to, but studies in verbal learning indicate that evaluative judgments of words are associated with their ease of recall. Amster (1964) found that words evaluated as 'good' were recalled better than words

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

Abstract: lorty Ss were given a continuous recognition memory test in which each word was presented twice, eilher 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 re port first presentation print for recognized items for at least 1'/2 min. In a second experiment, the stirnuli used were nonsense strings 01' from five to seven letters instead 01' words. This rnanipulation increased the same-print advantage in recognition but reduced 55' ability to report first print form. The results indicate that information about the physical features 01' 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 conc1usion that the visual code is stored only as adependent attribute 01' the verbal code in mernory. When a person reads a word, one possible assumption is that the item is immediately translated into an auditory-verbal or semantic code. According to this view, the verbal and semantic properties of the word are extracted, whereas normally redundant information about the physical properties of the visual stimulus are lost. However, the results of recent studies (e.g., Kroll, Parks, Parkinson, Beiber, & Johnson, 1970: Warrington & Shallice, 1969) show that information about the physical properties of visually presented verbal stimuli may be retained in memory for 10-25 sec, aperiod of time substantially beyond that whieh eould he useful for word identification. The present study was implemented with a view to (a) providing further knowledge about the duration of visual persistence for verbal stimuli and (b) gaining some insight into the eoding processes involved in the retention of the representational as distinet from the semantic attributes of verbal stimuli. The present study used a modification of the continuous trial recognition mernory paradigm introduced by Shepard and Teghtsoonian (1961), In their experiment, Ss were exposed to a series of words, within which each item was repeated onee, at one of several possible retention intervals. The technique was modified here so that an item could be repeated in the same physical form (e.g., CARROT/CARROT) or in a different physical form (e.g., CARROT/carrot) on the first and second presentations in the continuous series. Two questions were considered in the present experiment. The first question involved a direct

Verbal Learning and Memory in Elderly Depressives

Abstract: The nature of the verbal learning impairment of elderly depressed patients was studied by comparing their performance with that of remitted depressives (the same patients on recovery) and of dementing patients. The depressed patients showed some degree of learning defect, though this was less severe and affected fewer of the tasks than that of the dements. The types of error made showed differences, the depressives tending to make less random errors and produce fewer false positives than the dements but to make more transposition errors.

Effects of negative instances in concept acquisition using a verbal learning task.

Abstract: Concept acquisition was promoted by manipulating positive and negative instances. Also, stimulus simdlarity variables produced the concept classification errors -of overgeneralization, undergeneralization, and misconception. The value of negative instances in concept instruction-was, investigated in a second adVerb learning task 5y removing the negative instances from the six treatment conditions. Subjects (260 `total) were seventh grade students from three school -districts. Subjectt 'in experiment one responded according tothe hypothesized outcomes (p < .01). In experiment two, the subjects responded -randomly on the posttest. The results indicate that negative instances are an integral .part of concept acquisition. The relationship between the, positive and negative instances was based upon similarity of irrelevant attributes and sentence di fftcuf ty. Effect of of Negative Instances in Concept Acquisition Using a Verbal Learning Task Robert D. Tennyson Florida State University The earliest research dealing with the relationship of negative instances (nonexeirplars) to positive instances (exemplars) was Smoke's (1933),. Smoke used an artificial task in which the exemplars and nonexemplars were randomly orderedwith the order changing after each succession through the list: No logical relationship was est4biishE,:: between exemplars andnonexemplars, resulting in his conclusion that negative instances were of no value in concept learning. A-study which looked at the relationship of exemplars based on critical attributeswas Marri sett and Hovland's (1959) replication of Adams' (1954) study of single task vs. multiple task. They found that a variety of positive instances was necessary to effect a transfer of concept attainment, However,. there waS..no operational definition of the relationship between exemplars according to their irrelevant attributes or any criteria. In investigations of combined instances, the equivalent attributes of positive and negative instances, were found to be poorly utilized by huMan subjects (Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin-, 1956; Donaldson, 1959; Hovland & We4S, 1953), These studies show the lack of an operational control'betWeen exemplars and nonexemplars, as does the Smoke study. The oOnOoPtSP-used-in, these.prior studies were finite withthe subject attempting to gyeSs--thivrule (critical attribute) fn3m a-ries of instances. 2 Callentine and Warren (1955) studied positive instances and concluded that repetition of one or two instances increased attainment."' Luborsky (1945) indicated that eight exposures was more effective than three. These last two studies show that a series of instances is needed, but no mention is made of the difficulty of the instances or that discrimination of negative instances could be affected by a series which includes a combination of exemplars and nonekeMplars. Irrelevant attributes as measures of difficulty has been shown in the studiesdealing with ease of attainment of concept classes(Archer, Bourne, & Brown; 1956; Brown & Archer, 1966; and BoUrne, 1967). 'Each: of these :Studies' found that as the number of irrelevant attributes indreatedthelearriing: latency and number of errors also increased. They concluded that the: number of irrelevanfattribUtes *has a linear relatiorishi0 with 'difficulty of instances. "Negative instances facilitate learning 'of :conceptt by requiring the subject to concentrate on the critical attribute when Presented' a,matched relationship of exemplars -and ncinexeinplars. When the eXenpThr and nonexenplar are as i.imtrar,;;at possible in' their irrelevant attribUtesi the noticeable differences are among the critical Concept: -.._ attainment research' does not provide, 'the subject with the op-Ortunity to focus on the critical attributes by using negative' instances :. ' ...negative instances in concept adqUiSitiOn the subject thight:conteive as a critical attribute -an irreTeyaki'atirlbute.` In a study by-Tennyson; Woolley -, and 1 1 11,974;,-4ndePendent variables were investigated Oa t:cjire0i4ed* tb:riCelit54-64140:iaciki afidltpeci fied classification errors. The resUltSOf' their study se iz,n% reek

Prompting and Rehearsal in Short-Term Memory.

Abstract: HAGEN, JOHN W.; HARGRAVE, SUSAN; and Ross, WILLIAM. Prompting and Rehearsal in ShortTerm Memory. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 201-204. The effects of induced verbal rehearsal and prompting were studied in a short-term recall test in 2 groups of children with mean ages of 5-9 and 7-4. The stimuli were cards depicting animals. 7 cards were presented sequentially per trial for 21 trials. Half the Ss were required to rehearse the names of the animals and were prompted when needed; the remaining Ss rehearsed but received no prompting. A recall test in which no rehearsal was required was administered one week later. Recall improved when rehearsal was employed, but only when prompting was provided. Recall was affected by rehearsal at the younger age level only. No change in recall was found 1 week after initial testing.

Marijuana induced state-dependent verbal learning.

Abstract: Human, male subjects from our light marijuana usage category were given paired associate learning under either placebo or marijuana intoxication. A 2×2 experimental design was used to test for dissociation effects. Marijuana intoxicated subjects needed significantly more trials to reach criterion learning than subjects under placebo. Testing of recall, ten days later, demonstrated a significant state-dependent effect. The results were discussed in terms of state-dependent theory and the effects of centrals nervous system active drugs on learning models.

How Are Pictures Registered in Memory

Abstract: Three experiments tested the hypothesis that pictorial memory is much less dependent on rehearsal than is verbal memory. Experiment I examined incidental learning since this is assumed to reflect learning with little or no rehearsal. Following a classification task, intentional and incidental learning for pictures and for words was compared. The superiority of pictorial memory was especially marked in incidental learning. Experiment II showed that this result was not due to differences in the amount of processing required to classify pictures and words. RTs to classify words and pictures did not differ, and incidental learning was again superior for pictures. In Experiment III rehearsal opportunity was restricted by a concurrent task during presentation of word and picture lists, and the decrement was very much greater for word learning than for picture learning. It was concluded that manipulation of rehearsal opportunity has relatively little effect on pictorial memory.

Visual Attention, Modeling Behaviors, and Other Verbal and Nonverbal Meta-Communication of Prekindergarten Children Viewing Sesame Street

Abstract: Thirty prekindergarten children, randomly assigned, were videotaped while viewing the same pre-taped Sesame Street program either as single viewers (N=6) or as group viewers (6 groups of 4 Ss each). Video-tapes were systematically coded for visual attention, modeling behaviors, and other meta-communication. Both groups and single viewers averaged eye contact with over 80% of the program despite exhibiting more than one nonviewing behavior per minute and high mobility while viewing. Group viewers exhibited a large number and variety of verbal and nonverbal, targeted and (probably) nontargeted modeling behaviors; single viewers much fewer. Overt program-elicited amusement was more frequent for groups than for singles. Children exhibited vicarious participation as evidenced by one direct reaction to the program about every four minutes. Other behaviors included (a) labeling (b) program appeal behaviors, (c) associating, (d) fear references, (e) evaluating, (f) reading, (g) predicting, and (h) nonprogram rela...

Some Correlates of Speech Coding in the Short-Term Memory of the Deaf

Abstract: A short-term memory test for visually presented letter sequences was given to 43 deaf students and 46 hearing housewives. Alternately the sequences were phonologically similar or dissimilar. All he...