Richard C. Atkinson

Human memory ; A proposed system and its control processes

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a general theoretical framework of human memory and describes the results of a number of experiments designed to test specific models that can be derived from the overall theory. This general theoretical framework categorizes the memory system along two major dimensions. The first categorization distinguishes permanent, structural features of the system from control processes that can be readily modified or reprogrammed at the will of the subject. The second categorization divides memory into three structural components: the sensory register, the short-term store, and the long-term store. Incoming sensory information first enters the sensory register, where it resides for a very brief period of time, then decays and is lost. The short-term store is the subjects working memory; it receives selected inputs from the sensory register and also from long-term store. The chapter also discusses the control processes associated with the sensory register. The term control process refers to those processes that are not permanent features of memory, but are instead transient phenomena under the control of the subject; their appearance depends on several factors such as instructional set, the experimental task, and the past history of the subject.

Contemporary Developments in Mathematical Psychology

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Rehearsal processes in free recall: A procedure for direct observation

Rehearsal during the presentation of free-recall lists was made observable by having S s rehearse aloud as items were shown for study and tape recording their output. Items studied early in the list were found to receive more rehearsal than other list items; probability of recall for individual items was found to be an increasing function of amount of rehearsal; items being rehearsed immediately prior to test were recalled with high probability. A U-shaped serial-position curve was found. It is suggested that the recency effects may be attributed to the high probability of recall observed for items rehearsed just prior to test, while the additional rehearsal accorded initial items of the list results in the primacy effect.

Stimulus sampling theory

Abstract : Some of the fundamental mathematical techniques of stimuls sampling theory are presented. The simplest of all learning models - the pattern model for simple learning is presented in which the population of available stimulation is ASSUMED TO COMPRISE A SET OF DISTINCT STIMULUS PATTERNS, EXACTLY ONE OF WHICH IS SAMPLED ON EACH TRIAL. In the important special case of the oneelement model, it is assumed that there is only one such pattern and that it recurs intact at the beginning of each experimenta trial. The oneelement model is worthy of study not only for expositional purposes but also for its value as an analytic device in relation to certain types of learning data. After a treatment of pattern models for simple acquisition an for learning under probabilistic reinforcement schedules, the conceptualization of generalization and transfer is discussed; the component models in which the patterns of stimulation effective on individual trials are treated, not as distinct elements, but as overlapping samples from a common population; and, finally, some examples of the more complex multiple-process models which are becoming increasingly important in the analysis of discrimination learning, concept formation, and related phenomena are discussed. (Author)

Processing time as influenced by the number of elements in a visual display.

In a visual-detection experiment. a display of several letters was presented. and S was to report the presence or absence of a given target letter. Results clearly are incompatible with a self-terminating visual-scanning process as hypothesized by Sternberg (1967). Two models are considered. a serial exhaustive scanning process and a parallel exhaustive process, but findings from the present study do not provide a basis for differentiating between them.

Individual differences and interrelationships among a select set of cognitive skills

An experiment was conducted to investigate individual differences and interrelationships in performance on three short-term memory processing and visual processing tasks. Parameters of models for these tasks were correlated. High correlations (.97 and .83) were obtained for some intertask parameters. indicating that elemental component processes for different tasks can be identified that are similar or highly related. Psychometric measures (SATM and SATV) were also correlated with the information processing model parameters. High multiple correlations of SATV and SATM were obtained using model parameters as predictors. when the data were analyzed separately for female and male subjects. The results are suggestive of sex differences in the interrelationships of the cognitive processes under investigation.

Recognition time for information stored in long-term memory

Two experiments were performed to determine the effects of number of words in a target set (varying from 10 to 26) and the nature of distractor words on the latency of both positive and negative recognition responses. Before the test phase, S memorized a list of words and then was tested with a series of single words. To each presentation S made a positive or negative response to indicate whether or not the word was a member of the memorized target list. Response latency was observed to be an increasing function of memory list length. Negative response latency also was greater if distractor words were visually or semantically similar to specific target words. The results were analyzed in terms of a modified signal detection model. It is assumed that S makes a subjective judgment of the familiarity of a test item and on that basis decides either to respond immediately or to delay the response until a search of the memorized list can be executed. Several different models of the search process are considered and evaluated against latency measures and error data.

The Computer as a Tutorial Laboratory: The Stanford BIP Project.

The B asic Instructional Program (BIP) was developed to investigate tutorial modes of interaction in computer-assisted instruction. BIP is an interactive problem-solving laboratory that offers tutorial assistance to students solving introductory programming problems in the B asic language. This paper describes how the problem presentation sequence is individualized based on a representation of the structure of the curriculum and a model of the students state of knowledge. The nature of the student-BIP interaction is captured in an annotated student dialogue illustrating a typical session.

Specialization of the cerebral hemispheres in scanning for information in short-term memory*

Lateral specialization of function in the cerebral hemispheres was investigated in the context of a memory scanning paradigm. The S first memorized a set of letters (the memory set) and then indicated whether or not a subsequent test stimulus, presented in either the right or left visual field, matched any letter in the set. The test stimulus was either a letter or a picture of some common object; for the picture, S’s response was based on the initial letter of the name of that object. Reaction time was recorded and plotted as a function of the number of letters in the memory set. The results support the hypothesis that in a memory scanning task of this type, letter and picture test stimuli are spatially and verbally represented, respectively, and are processed in different cerebral hemispheres.

Short-term memory with young children

Two groups of children, a 4-year old and a 5-year old group, were run in a short-termmemory experiment specifically designed to sustain the attention of a young child. The results indicated that the technique was successful in permitting the collection of orderly data from these Ss.