STEP: Primary Memory [35330]

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

 
Detail
Experiment Author: Susan Campbell. Adapted from STEP and used with permission of Brian MacWhinney
 
Experiment Description

Used a probe-digit task. Participants were given lists of 16 digits, in which the probe digit appeared only once. They were asked not to rehearse the previous digits, but rather to concentrate on the digit they had just heard at any given time. They were then probed at the end of the list with the digit and asked to report which digit followed it in the list. Lists were presented at 1 or 4 per second auditorially in the original study. The two variants presented here are a very small script that presents digits visually and a very large script with a .wav file for each list. Eventually, we plan to offer a version that is smaller but presents auditory stimuli (using a .wav file for each digit, such that there are 10 small files, not 100 large ones).

 

The experimenters found that their results showed that forgetting varied with the number of digits presented between the probe and the end of the list, but not with the time between the probe and the end of the list. This suggested, therefore, that forgetting was interference based rather than time based.
 
Experiment Instructions

This experiment has two different tasks split into different experiment files. "Primary Memory" is based on visual memory and "Primary Memory 2" on aural memory. Both tasks run a list of digits, one experiment shows digits on-screen and the other plays the digits through speakers. At the end of each series of numbers, there is a target digit, colored in green or followed by a beep.  Enter the digit from the series of numbers that followed the target digit. Both experiments have 18 trials each.
 
Experiment Citation

Waugh, N. C. and Norman, D. A. (1965). Primary Memory. Psychological Review 72 (2), 89-104.
 
Cited Experiment Abstract
A model for short-term memory is described and evaluated. A variety of experimental data are shown to be consistent with the following statements. (a) Unrehearsed verbal stimuli tend to be quickly forgotten because they are interfered with by later items in a series and not because their traces decay in time. (b) Rehearsal may transfer an item from a very limited primary memory store to a larger and more stable secondary store. (c) A recently perceived item may be retained in both stores at the same time. The properties of these 2 independent memory systems can be separated by experimental and analytical methods.

Works Cited by the Experiment

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Broadbent, D. E. Perception and communication. New York: Pergamon Press, 1958.

 

Brown, J. Some tests of the decay theory of immediate memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1958, 10, 12-21. Brown 1958

 

Bugelski, B. R. Presentation time, total time, and mediation in paired-associate learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1962, 63, 409-412.

 

Clark, L. L., Lansford, T. E., & Dallenback, K. M. Repetition and associaive learning. American Journal of Psychology, 1960, 73, 22-40.

 

Conrad, R. Decay theory of immediate memory. Nature, 1957, 179, 831-832.

 

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Hebb, D. O. The organization of behavior. New York: Wiley, 1949.

 

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Keppel, G., & Underwood, B. J. Proactive inhibition in short-term retention of single items. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1962, 1, 153-161.

 

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Peterson, L. R., & Peterson, M. J. Short-term retention of individual verbal items. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1959, 58, 193-198. Peterson and Peterson 1959

 

Pillsbury, W. B., & Sylvester, A. Retroactive and proactive inhibition in immediate memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 194, 27, 532-545.

 

Posner, M. I. Immediate memory in sequential tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 1963, 60, 333-349.

 

Postman, L. The present status of interference theory. In C. N. Cofer (Ed.), Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill 1961. Pp. 152-179.

 

Sperling, G. The information available in brief visual presentations. Psychological Monographs, 1960, 74 (11, Whole No. 498). Sperling 1960

 

Sperling G. A model for visual memory tasks. Human factors, 1963, 5, 19-36.

 

Tulving, E., & Arbuckle, T. Y. Sources of intratrial inference in immediate recall of paired associates. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1963, 1, 321-334.

 

Underwood, B. J., & Keppel, G. An evaluation of two problems of method in the study of retention. American Journal of Psychology, 1962, 75, 1-17.

 

Waugh, N. C. Free versus serial recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 62, 496-502.

 

Waugh, N. C. The effect of intralist repetition on free recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1962, 1, 95-99.

 

Waugh, N. C. Immediate memory as a function of repetition. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1963, 2, 107-112.

 

See Also:

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

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

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

STEP: Availability Versus Accessibility of Information in Memory for Words [35320]

STEP: The Role of Rehearsal in Short-Term Memory [35114]

STEP: Depth of Processing and the Retention of Words in Episodic Memory [35113]