This thesis investigated the binding processes involved in the encoding of complex structure in immediate verbal recall. Chapters 2 to 6 compared participants' recall of sentence-lists embedded within an intact story structure (coherent condition) with their recall of the constituent sentences of stories that had been re-ordered prior to presentation (incoherent condition). Dual task methodology was employed to probe the binding processes that underpin recall for within- and across-sentence information. Superior recall for sentence-lists in the coherent than incoherent condition was robust to manipulations of attentional load in Chapters 2 and 3, and simple semantic category judgements in Chapters 4 and 5. However, the coherence advantage effect was not simply impenetrable, but diminished in Chapter 6 with concurrent comprehension of visual scenes. The coherence advantage effect was identified consistently in the recall of across-sentence information, but was more variable in the recall of within-sentence information. This implied that the binding processes operating within- and across-sentences are relatively distinct. It is argued that automatic language processes contribute to within-sentence binding, and that domain-general integrative processes operate across sentences. In Chapter 7, participants were asked to recall semantically anomalous sentences that were organised into lists that shared, or did not share, semantic category information. Participants were able to utilise global semantic organisation across lists of anomalous sentences, providing indirect evidence that integrative binding processes contribute to the coherence advantage effect, rather than simply the availability of schematic knowledge to drive retrieval. It is argued that global story structure across a sentence-list permits greater integration of meaning across sentences, and the more efficient use of limited storage capacity. Contemporary theories of story recall should acknowledge both the role of integrative processes and the role of capacity constraints within immediate memory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:616558 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Kapikian, Anna |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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