STEP: Short-term Retention of Individual Verbal Items [35273]

This article applies to:
E-Prime 3.0
E-Prime 1.0

 
Detail
Experiment Author: Adapted from STEP and used with permission of Brian MacWhinney
 
Experiment Description
Subjects are presented with a series of syllables and then a three-digit number and are asked to count backwards from the number then recall the syllables.

Experiment Instructions

In this experiment participants memorize a group of three letters and recall them after counting backwards. When the letters disappear, a number appears and participants count backwards by threes. The counting duration ranges from 3 seconds to 18 seconds. Afterward, a tone will play and participants recall the three letters displayed at the beginning of the trial. There are 20 trials in this experiment.
 
Experiment Citation

Peterson, L.R., & Peterson, M.J. (1959). Short-term retention of individiual verbal items. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 193-198.
 
Works Cited by the Experiment

Brown, J. Some tests of the decay theory of immediate memory. Quart. J. exp. Psychol., 1958, 10, 12-21.

Estes, W.K. Toward a statistical theory of learning. Psychol. Rev., 1950, 57, 94-102.

Estes, W.K. Statistical theory of spontaneous recovery and regression. Psychol Rev., 1955, 62, 145-154.

Hilgard, E.R. Mehtods and procedures in the study of learning. In S.S. Stevens (Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology. New York: Wiley, 1951.

Hull, C.L., Hovland, C.I., Ross, R.T., Hall, M., Perkins, D.T., & Fitch, F.B. Mathematico-deductive theory of rote learning: A study in scientific methodology. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940.

Hull, C.L. A behavior system. New Haven: Yale Univer. Press, 1952.

Pillsbury, W.B., & Sylvester, A. Retroactive and proactive inhibition in immediate memory. J. exp. Psychol., 1940, 27, 532-545.

Underwood, B.J. Experimental psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1949.

Underwood, B.J. Interference and forgetting. Psychol. Rev., 1957, 64, 49-60.

Walker, H., & Lev, J. Statistical inference. New York: Holt, 1953.

Wicoxon, F. Some rapid approximate statistical procedures. New York: Amer. Cyanamid Co., 1949.

See Also:

STEP: Some Tests of the Decay Theory of Immediate Memory [35089]

STEP: The Information Available in Brief Visual Presentations [35301]

STEP: Primary Memory [35330]