Immediate Memory

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1) Provide a historical perspective on the study of the conscious portion of memory.

2) Present the key components of the ‘modal’ model of memory (Atkinson & Shiffrin) along with the empirical data that support/contradict the model.

3) Discuss several reasons why researchers have become dissatisfied with the ‘modal’ model.

4) Describe the architecture of the WM model and the empirical data that support/contradict the model.

  • Central executive
  • Phonological loop
  • Visuo-spatial sketchpad

5) Review two recent attempts to update the WM model:

  • Activation models
  • Feature models

Historical Perspectives on Immediate Memory

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Different theories … different names

  • Working Memory
  • working memory
  • STM
  • primary memory

Theoretically neutral terms

  • Immediate memory
  • Contents of consciousness

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Out with the old, in with the new

  • Unitary vs. multi-faceted construct
  • Associationism vs. strategic behavior
  • Behaviors vs. peering inside the box

Limited Capacity of Immediate Memory

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Demo:

  1. Multiply 26 X 34
  2. List the days of the week in reverse order
  3. Draw a map of the Amherst College Campus
  4. Do the Hustle.

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Q: how much information can it hold?

A1: 7 +/- 2 items

A2: Whoa! What about experts?

Q: Why do capacity constraints matter?

A: Because they suggest that we can split immediate memory off from the unconscious information. Now we have 2 systems to examine.

Q: But what would be sufficient proof?

  • Different properties
  • Respond differently to experimental variables
  • Make separate contributions to memory

Let’s give it a name

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Conscious / Unconscious
Waugh & Norman / Primary / Secondary
Atkinson & Shiffrin / STM / LTM

We are going to use the A&S terminology because:

  • STM and LTM captures an important distinction between the two proposed memory systems
  • A&S introduced terminology to describe the subjects mental activity
  • rehearsal
  • search
  • transfer

Distinguishing STM & LTM: Different Properties I

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STM / LTM
Capacity / 7  2 / functionally infinite
Duration / relatively brief / relatively long
Serial Position Effects / Recency / Primacy

Supportive Data for Serial Position Effects:

  • Rundus & Atkinson (1970) – # of rehearsals correlated with primacy, not recency.

Distinguishing STM & LTM: Different Properties II

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More on Serial Positions Effects:

Glanzer & Cunitz (1966) –

Distinguishing STM & LTM: Different Properties III

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Maintenance of information

STMrehearsal

EX: new cutie’s phone #

LTMrehearsal

EX: current email address

old email addresses

Effect of Decay

STM

LTM

Effect of interference

STM

EX: new cuties’ phone #

LTM

EX: current email address

But: old phone #s / email addresses

Distinguishing STM & LTM: Experimental Manipulations and Separate Contributions

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Experimental Manipulations

What does it take to eliminate primacy and recency?

  • How can you get rid of primacy?

A:

  • How can you get rid of recency?

A:

Confusion errors

STM (short RI, lists)

LTM (long RI, lists)

Separability of function

Two letters: HM

  • Normal LTM
  • Highly impaired STM (across delays)
  • Specific implications
  • Transfer
  • Neural correlate

Critics of the two-store model

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Primacy / Recency effects

  • Primacy without
  • Recency with RIs
  • Continual distractor paradigm
  • Bjork & Whitten (1974)

Is rehearsal necessarily correlated with memory?

Confusion errors are not so cut and dried

  • STM - some
  • LTM - some

True separability is logically impossible

  • Semanticity affects STM
  • LTM retrieval must involve STM

The next step: Working Memory

Baddeley & Hitch (1974)

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Q: What made modal model revolutionary?

A:

Working Memory (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974)

Emphasized over

Why jump on the WM bandwagon?

  • Digit spanvs. working memory span
  • Builds on the advantages of the modal model
  • More in step with cognitive revolution
  • Can I remember new cutie’s phone # vs.
  • Is it safe to cross Rte. 9?

Architecture of the Working Memory model

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Theoretical approach

Immediate memory= workbench of the mind

  • What do you need to build a house?
  • General Contractor
  • Expertise
  • Workers
  • Tools
  • Raw Materials

Working Memory

  • Central Executive
  • Strategies, experience
  • Phonological Loop
  • Phonological store
  • Articulatory control process
  • Visuo-spatial sketch pad
  • Mental capacity / energy (limited)

Working memory: Overview

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The CE co-ordinates all mental activity.

  • How the problem will be solved:
  • Schedules tasks
  • Allocates
  • Chooses which subsystems to employ:
  • How to efficiently

Two lackies:

Phonological Loop

Auditory / linguistic information

VSSP

Visual information

Working memory: Behavioral support for the

existence of the Central Executive

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Concurrent task paradigm –

Primary task: mental arithmetic

Function of CE?

Secondary tasks:

  • random sequence generation
  • abstract line drawings
  • simple motor sequence.

Typical results:

Which has the biggest dual task cost?

Problems:

Relation to personal experience:

Working memory: Neuropsych support for the

existence of the Central Executive

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Dysexecutive syndrome – Frontal lobe damage

Case study

  • EVR –lost decision making ability

Behavioral tasks

  • Wisconsin Card Sort
  • Verbal fluency tasks
  • Copying simple motor behaviors
  • Stroop task

Two classes of errors

  • inferior and orbital frontal cortex
  • dorsolateral frontal cortex

Neuroimaging data

Frontal lobe activation consistently tied to adoption of

  • Detecting novelty
  • Difficult conditions of the Stroop

Working Memory: Training the Central Executive

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Space Fortress improves with practice.

Big Question: How do we know this relates to CE?

A:

Bigger Question: What does Space Fortress have to do with Piloting?

A:

Biggest Question: Why is this such a big question?

A:

Working Memory: Phonological Loop

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Phonological store

Function:

Articulatory control process

Function 1: converts visual information

Function 2: refreshes memory traces in Phonological Store via

Capacity of Phonological loop

Decay rate

Rehearsal rate

Demo:

Phonological loop: what is it good for?

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Phonological similarity effect – immediate memory is worse for

Why?

Word-length effect – longer words are more

Why?

Articulatory suppression – repeating a nonsense syllable

Why?

Secondary prediction: larger effect on visual presentation than auditory presentation. Why?

Irrelevant speech effect - Recall visually presented consonants either in silence or while listening to irrelevant speech

Prediction:

Explanation:

Effect of articulatory suppression:

Effect of irrelevant music:

Note: data are mixed

Martin, Wogalter, & Forlano (1988)

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What was the goal of the research?

They wanted to examine whether unattended

Why were they interested in that?

  • Does background noise
  • Is phonological representation
  • Previous data were
  • Auditory vs. visual presentation
  • Meaningfulness of stimuli
  • verbatim recall or comprehension

Experiment 1: Speech vs. Music?

Method:

  • continuous spoken speech
  • random speech
  • instrumental music
  • random tones
  • silence.

Results:

  • Continuous and random speech

Martin, Wogalter, & Forlano (1988) II

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Experiment 2 – Music vs. language

Method:

  • Sung lyrics vs. spoken lyrics vs. no lyrics
  • with or without musical accompaniment.

Results:

  • Sung lyrics not different from

Experiment 3 – speech more distracting in general?

Method:

  • Spech vs. musical background

Results:

  • Music more

Experiment 4 – Semanticity?

Results:English Russian White noise

Experiment 5– Phonology?

  • English non-words

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What is the overall interpretation?

  • Phonological interference does not affect
  • Relation to WM model? Function of PL?

Balch and Lewis (1996)

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Theoretical question: How does music produce CDM?

Empirical question: How will manipulating various aspects of the music affect CDM?

Experiment 1:

Key manipulations:Melody and Tempo

Results:

  • Changing melody did
  • Changing tempo did

Experiment 2:

Key manipulations:Tempo and Timbre

Results:

  • Changing timbre did
  • Chaning tempo did

Experiment 3:

Key manipulation: Timbre and Tempo

Results:

  • Timbre change did
  • Tempo change did

Balch and Lewis (1996)

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Experiment 4:

Key manipulation:

Tempo at encoding

Induced mood at test

Results:

Match facilitated

Implications:

Music influences memory by

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Questions:

  1. So, you and your roommate are studying for your Memory exam. S/he says, do you mind if I turn on the stereo? What do you say?
  2. What do you think about IMing, texting, and so forth while studying?
  3. How should our legal institutions resolve the issue of driving while talking on the cell phone?

Fürst and Hitch (2000)

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Theoretical Question:

Empirical Question: Will secondary tasks designed to stress the CE and PL produce differential performance deficits on a primary mental arithmetic task?

What are the three component processes

Experiment 1:

Q: What does the PL do?

A:

Q: How would you interfere with the PL?

A:

Method:

  • Articulatory suppression or silence
  • Math problem remained in view or not

Results:

  • AS interfered with performance, but

Interpretation:

Fürst and Hitch (2000): What about the CE?

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Experiment 2:

Q: How does the CE contribute to mental math?

A:

Q: How did they tax the CE?

A:

Method:

Completed trails task with visible math problems

Results:

  • Dual task math performance
  • Vast majority of errors
  • Trails task varied inversely

Experiment 3:

Q: Did # of carries influence trails performance because carrying takes time?

A: Length of trails task unrelated to # of errors

Dual task influenced errors on trail task

Fürst and Hitch (2000): What does it all mean?

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Implications:

  • PL: retains needed
  • CE:
  • Independent functions constitutes convincing evidence for

Questions:

  • How can we explain discrepancies with previous research regarding the role of WM in carrying during mental arithmetic?
  • Forgetting a carry common; mistakenly including a carry was uncommon. What does that imply?
  • Are the functions of the PL and CE completely independent?

Critiques of Working Memory

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Consistency

  • Word length effects
  • Irrelevant speech effects
  • Is articulatory rate related to
  • Neuropsych data:

If reduced spans caused by faulty ACP, then should be immune to articulatory suppression.

Model is overly descriptive

EX:

Qualitative rather than quantitative

  • Makes it difficult to falsify

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Overall evaluation

  • Extremely valuable
  • Needs further development / specification

What else is out there? Feature models

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Feature model (Nairne, 1990)

  • Similar to the way a computer represents information (binary code)

How might you represent a person?

Important features of Feature Models

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One data point is meaningless

  • It's the overall pattern
  • Thus, you don't need many features to distinguish between objects

320 =

Two kinds of features

  1. Modality-dependent
  2. Modality-independent.
  • Note: feature models do not posit different stores for different kinds of information.

How do feature models work?

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Distinction between primary and secondary memory

Primary memoryconsciousness.

Secondary memorystorehouse of knowledge

Primary functions

Primary Memory:

  • assemble and maintain cues that will aid subsequent memory searches.

Secondary Memory:

  • permanent storage of knowledge

How does memory work?

Encoding:

1st items features are activated

2nd items features are activated

  • overlap and interfere with 1st item

3rd items features are activated

  • overlap / interfere with items 1 and 2

Test:

Match degraded cues with items in secondary memory

How do Feature Models account for different effects?

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Recency

Features of final item

Suffix Effect

Features of final item

Phonological similarity

Similar items have more overlapping features.

Articulatory suppression

Features of the repeated item are incorporated into the cue used to retrieve each item.

Word-length effect

The more features there are, the more opportunities

EX: 5-piece jigsaw puzzle vs.

100-piece jigsaw puzzle

Evaluation of Feature Models

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Negatives:

weak on SP effects

Positives:

Much more explicit model than WM

Question to ponder:

How could you use feature models to simulate the advantage of spaced over massed practice?