In an immediate serial recall task, participants are asked to recall lists of items in order. In the Hebb repeating-list variant of the task, subjects are read a series of lists, and every third list is repeated. Performance improves across repetitions but is stable for the non-repeated trials. The repetition advantage—the increased accuracy for the repeated list—is known as the Hebb effect. Several models have been advanced to explain how participants order successive items, but how participants take advantage of the repetition has largely been ignored. Although the task is usually discussed in terms of recall of verbal items, the Hebb effect has been observed with sequences of visuo-spatial positions. The present work assesses whether immediate serial recall of verbal material benefits from visuo-spatial context. Sequences of letters were presented in different spatial positions in a visual version of the Hebb task. Presenting lists in random spatial positions on the periphery of an imaginary circle did not boost performance, but if the sequence was predictable, overall accuracy increased. The spatial path of successive items influenced the Hebb effect. When the distance between successive positions was minimized, participants were able to exploit the repetition early in practice. The results deny an account based on item distinctiveness. I discuss the results in terms of contemporary models of ISR. / Thesis (Master, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2007-10-03 13:01:00.716

This thesis examines the effects of prosody on serial recall. Serial recall is an experimental task commonly used to evaluate the capacity of short-term memory. The Working Memory model by Baddeley and Hitch is a theoretical framework that describes the inner operation of short-term memory. Its hierarchies are supported by empirical evidence, but details of the core mechanisms remain unclear. In an attempt to refine the framework, this thesis investigated prosody as a factor in serial recall accuracy. Two behavioural experiments were conducted on native speakers of Canadian English. In the first experiment, the explicit awareness of word stress was examined. Results showed a main effect of word stress type, where iambic words received higher stress identification scores compared to trochaic words. In the second experiment, an immediate serial recall task was used to examine serial recall of word lists. The lists consisted of disyllabic words from Canadian English sources. The lists had mixed or uniform stress patterns. A main effect of list stress patterns was found, where mixed lists elicited better recall of the order of list items compared to uniform lists. Overall, the present thesis offers a new interpretation on how word stress is represented in the short-term memory. It adds support to the proposed interaction between short-term and long-term memory. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Many daily experiences require us to remember a list of items, such as drafting a grocery list and reciting phone numbers. How well we can remember a list can be influenced by various characteristics of the list. This thesis looks at a seldom studied characteristic: prosody. Prosody in the English language can be realized via word stress, which is the amount of emphasis we place on certain parts of a word. This thesis explores the impact of word stress on our ability to remember a list of common English words. It reports data from an online survey and a laboratory experiment. Results show that mixed word stress patterns in a list lead to better memory for said list. Overall, this thesis offers new suggestions on the role of prosody in memory. As well, it offers a novel set of data that supports current theories in memory.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Serial recall of two-voice lists: Words are not perceptually organized by voice.</p><p>The present study examined how voice affects the perceptual grouping of words in short-term memory that are auditory presented. Three different voice-lists were used: single-voice, alternating-voice and split-voice. In single-voice lists all words were presented in the same voice. In alternating-voice lists words were presented alternately in a male and a female voice. Finally, in split-voice lists words were presented grouped four and four in a male and a female voice. It was hypothesized that recall would be best for split-voice lists, especially at serial position 4 and 5. This was not confirmed. However, in line with earlier investigations, a recall advantage of single-voice lists was found in comparison with recall of alternating-voice lists at the beginning of the serial position curve. Taken together, these results suggest that words are not perceptually organized by voice in short-term memory. Like earlier studies this study found that recall of single-voice lists was better than alternating-voice lists at the first serial position, a result that yet has to be explained.</p><p>Keywords: Multi-voice lists, serial recall, short-term memory, perceptual organization</p>

Abstract Title: Serial recall of two-voice lists: Words are not perceptually organized by voice. The present study examined how voice affects the perceptual grouping of words in short-term memory that are auditory presented. Three different voice-lists were used: single-voice, alternating-voice and split-voice. In single-voice lists all words were presented in the same voice. In alternating-voice lists words were presented alternately in a male and a female voice. Finally, in split-voice lists words were presented grouped four and four in a male and a female voice. It was hypothesized that recall would be best for split-voice lists, especially at serial position 4 and 5. This was not confirmed. However, in line with earlier investigations, a recall advantage of single-voice lists was found in comparison with recall of alternating-voice lists at the beginning of the serial position curve. Taken together, these results suggest that words are not perceptually organized by voice in short-term memory. Like earlier studies this study found that recall of single-voice lists was better than alternating-voice lists at the first serial position, a result that yet has to be explained. Keywords: Multi-voice lists, serial recall, short-term memory, perceptual organization

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(教育学) / 甲第20120号 / 教博第197号 / 新制||教||164(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院教育学研究科教育科学専攻 / (主査)教授 齊藤 智, 教授 楠見 孝, 教授 Emmanuel MANALO / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Education) / Kyoto University / DGAM

The conceptual relation theory postulates that English noun-noun compound words (e.g., snowman) have an underlying predicate structure that is not present in the surface form, but is recovered during compound processing (e.g., man made of snow). The relational nature of constituent binding in compound words marks them as a linguistic construction that is distinct from both the simplex words (monomorphemic) and other complex words (derived and inflected words) previously examined in the context of verbal working memory. In short-term memory research, a growing body of evidence suggests that semantic properties of words influence verbal recall; however, such effects have not been examined in the context of compound conceptual relations. The present study investigated the possible effects of compound conceptual relations in verbal working memory via an immediate serial recall task. The task was designed to examine whether sharing of an individual relation leads to facilitative or inhibitory effects for compounds associated with that relation and, more generally, whether this semantic property of compound words contributes to their recollection from short-term memory. Evidence from the serial recall experiment suggested an effect of compound relation priming in working memory. Relational similarity between recall list items appeared to inhibit recall performance. The thesis discusses how this may be the result of increased competition between compound constituents as a result of heightened constituent-level activation during word recall. This effect was not observed in relations that appeared to be overly general, suggesting that the effect is only present when compound words are matched according to salient, sufficiently specified relations. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Ringing phones are common in work space environments in the 21th century and while capturing the attention of the call-taker they also tend to disrupt people in the surrounding environment. This study aims to investigate the attentional capturing effect of ringtones by comparing sudden and increasing onsets with quiet and noise masking conditions while participants undertook a test of short-term memory for serial order (serial recall). The experiment presented new evidence that increasing ringtone sounds have a disruptive effect on serial recall processing. A masking noise background, however, successfully eliminated the effect of the increasing ringtone sound.  In contrary to what was anticipated, the ringtone with the sudden onset did not cause an attentional capture effect, suggesting at least in behavioural terms, it was successfully ignored. The results are discussed in relation to the literature on looking effects. Increasing ringtone sounds may appear looming, with sudden onset sounds decreasing in volume appearing receding. The central idea is that looming sounds are more disruptive to serial recall because they cause a diversion of attention from the serial recall task so as to react to the apparently approaching sound. The disruption attributable to looming sounds may be a form of attentional capture that is more specific than those triggered by deviant events within a to-be-ignored stream of sounds.

Ringtones are a common distracting sound in modern workspaces. In an earlierexperiment, ringtones increasing in volume (looming) produced greater attentional capture effectin the context of serial short-term memory, than ringtones with sudden onsets that decreased involume (receding). To determine whether this effect occurred merely because the loudest part ofthe looming ringtone coincided with the most sensitive part of the serial short-term memory task,this study repeated the sound conditions of the first experiment, but altered their timing. In thisstudy, the onset of the ringtones were brought forward in time such that the loudest part of thelooming ringtone now coincided with the part of the serial short-term memory task wherein theonset of the looming ringtone occurred in the first experiment. The looming ringtone againproduced more disruption than the receding ringtone, which failed to disrupt performance relativeto the quiet control condition. The presence of a masking sound eliminated the looming ringtoneeffect, as in the previous study. The results here support previous work demonstrating that thelooming sounds give rise to attentional capture and that this reflects an evolutionary adaptation tounconsciously react to approaching sounds/objects.

In the last decades, computational models have become useful tools for studying biological neural networks. These models are typically constrained by either behavioural data from neuropsychological studies or by biological data from neuroscience. One model of the latter kind is the Bayesian Confidence Propagating Neural Network (BCPNN) - an attractor network with a Bayesian learning rule which has been proposed as a model for various types of memory. In this thesis, I have further studied the potential of the BCPNN in short-term sequential memory. More specifically, I have investigated if the network can be used to qualitatively replicate behaviours of immediate verbal serial recall, and thereby offer insight into the network-level mechanisms which give rise to these behaviours. The simulations showed that the model was able to reproduce various benchmark effects such as the word length and irrelevant speech effects. It could also simulate the bow shaped positional accuracy curve as well as some backward recall if the to-be recalled sequence was short enough. Finally, the model showed some ability to handle sequences with repeated patterns. However, the current model architecture was not sufficient for simulating the effects of rhythm such as temporally grouping the inputs or stressing a specific element in the sequence. Overall, even though the model is not complete, it showed promising results as a tool for investigating biological memory and it could explain various benchmark behaviours in immediate serial recall through neuroscientifically inspired learning rules and architecture. / Under de senaste årtionden har datorsimulationer blivit ett allt mer populärt verktyg för att undersöka biologiska neurala nätverk. Dessa modeller är vanligtvis inspirerade av antingen beteendedata från neuropsykologiska studier eller av biologisk data från neurovetenskapen. En modell av den senare typen är ett Bayesian Confidence Propagating Neural Network (BCPNN) - ett autoassociativt nätverk med en Bayesiansk inlärningsregel, vilket tidigare har använts för att modellera flera typer av minne. I det här examensarbetet har jag vidare undersökt om nätverket kan användas som en modell för sekventiellt korttidsminne genom att undersöka dess förmåga att replikera beteenden inom verbalt sekventiellt korttidsminne. Experimenten visade att modellen kunde simulera ett flertal viktiga nyckeleffekter såsom the word length effect och the irrelevant speech effect. Däröver kunde modellen även simulera den bågformade kurvan som beskriver andelen lyckade repetitioner som en funktion av position, och den kunde dessutom repetera korta sekvenser baklänges. Modellen visade också på viss förmåga att hantera sekvenser där ett element återkom senare i sekvensen. Den nuvarande modellen var däremot inte tillräcklig för att simulera effekterna som tillkommer av rytm, såsom temporär gruppering eller en betoning på specifika element i sekvensen. I sin helhet ser modellen däremot lovande ut, även om den inte är fullständig i sin nuvarande form, då den kunde simulera ett flertal viktiga nyckeleffekter och förklara dessa med hjälp av neurovetenskapligt inspirerade inlärningsregler.

Στην παρούσα ερευνητική εργασία που είναι επανάληψη της έρευνας των Steinbrink και Klatte (2008) γίνεται προσπάθεια να διερευνηθεί η σχέση ανάμεσα στην ικανότητα άμεσης σειριακής συγκράτησης φωνολογικών πληροφοριών και την αναγνωστική και ορθογραφική ικανότητα παιδιών, που έχουν ως μητρική γλώσσα την ελληνική. Πολλές έρευνες έχουν δείξει ότι παιδιά με αναγνωστικές και ορθογραφικές δυσκολίες δεν χρησιμοποιούν με τον πιο αποτελεσματικό τρόπο τις φωνολογικές στρατηγικές σε έργα σειριακής ανάκλησης. Σε μια ομάδα 15 μαθητών της Γ’ Δημοτικού χωρίς αναγνωστικές και ορθογραφικές δυσκολίες και σε μια αντίστοιχη ομάδα 15 μαθητών με αναγνωστικές και ορθογραφικές δυσκολίες, παρουσιάστηκαν λίστες με τέσσερα ερεθίσματα η κάθε μία, τα οποία αντιστοιχούσαν σε ουσιαστικά υψηλής συχνότητας, με σκοπό την άμεση σειριακή ανάκλησή τους. Το μέγεθος της λέξης και η φωνολογική ομοιότητα καθώς και ο τρόπος παρουσίασης (οπτικός και ακουστικός) και ο τύπος ανάκλησης (οπτικός και προφορικός) ποίκιλαν, σε ένα μεικτό σχεδιασμό με χειρισμό των ανεξάρτητων μεταβλητών εντός υποκειμένων. Σε όλες τις πειραματικές συνθήκες, οι καλοί αναγνώστες απέδωσαν καλύτερα από τους φτωχούς αναγνώστες. Η φωνολογική ομοιότητα δεν επηρέασε τις επιδόσεις και στις δυο ομάδες των παιδιών. Αντίθετα, η επίδραση του μεγέθους των λέξεων διέφερε μεταξύ των ομάδων, πράγμα που ίσως δείχνει ελλιπή φωνολογική κωδικοποίηση και εσωτερική επανάληψη στα παιδιά με αναγνωστικές και ορθογραφικές δυσκολίες. Αναφορικά με τη σειρά παρουσίασης του ερεθίσματος, οι δύο ομάδες μαθητών έκαναν χρήση παρόμοιων στρατηγικών στις περισσότερες πειραματικές συνθήκες. Τα αποτελέσματα δείχνουν ότι οι φτωχοί αναγνώστες χρησιμοποιούν το φωνολογικό κύκλωμα. Αντί αυτού, οι δυσκολίες αυτές πηγάζουν από την ανεπαρκή εφαρμογή διαφόρων στρατηγικών λόγω ελλειμμάτων στη φωνολογική επεξεργασία. / The current study sought to investigate the relation between serial recall of phonological information and reading ability in Greek students. It has been proposed that dyslexic readers show inefficient application of phonological strategies during serial recall tasks. A group of 15 third graders with typical reading performance and 15 with reading impairments were presented with four-item lists of common nouns for immediate serial recall. Word length and phonological similarity as well as presentation modality (visual vs. auditory) and type of recall (visual vs. verbal) were varied as within subject factors in a mixed design. In all conditions, overall performance was significantly lower in poor readers. Phonological similarity did not affect performance in both groups of children. Word length effects differed between groups indicating deficient phonological coding and rehearsal in dyslexic students. With regard to the order of presentation, the two groups made use of similar strategies in the majority of the experimental conditions. The results demonstrate that, poor readers use the phonological loop. Instead, their difficulties stem from inadequate application of various strategies due to deficits in phonological processing.