Two experiments test;d whether short-term recall for auditory digit sequences f efficient encoding techniques and increases in either rdigit interval. All three hypotheses received strong In addition, analysis of interactions between length and digit duration, interdigit interval, and encoding conclusions that longer digit durations and interdigit sed resistance to forgetting at longer retention intervals techniques improve recall regardless of the length of
Ninety c~mmunity colleg~ students learn~d one of three types of hierarchically organized information presented either as a graphical representatIOn of the hierarchy or as an ordered list of one-directional connections derived irom top to bottom in the hierarchy. Three weeks later Ss were tested for free recall, cued rec~ll, and re~earning. Major fi~dings were: (a) For all three hierarchy types acquisition was much bett:r wIth grap~lcal rather than l~st representation of the hierarchy. (b) All three retention measures Yielded no eVidence that a graphical representation was a superior retrieval device at 3-week recall.In a recent article Nelson and Smith (1972) examined the effect of certain hierarchical structure variables on acquisition and retention of long-term memory (LTM) information. Their most striking finding was that the mode in which hierarchically organized information is presented has a very pronounced effect on acquisition and a lesser, but nonetheless significant, effect on retention of the information 3 weeks later. When the interitem connections to be learned are presented simultaneously in a graphical representation of the hierarchy, learning and retention are much more efficient than when the same hierarchical organization of information is presented simultaneously as an ordered list of one-directional connections between members of item pairs.Though Nelson and Smith have offered no explanation of their graphic presentation effect, presumably it depends at least in part on the fact that hierarchical structure may be less easily apprehended when it is presented as an ordered list of associations. Hierarchical relations such as class inclusion are nonspatial continua and when they are mapped onto a spatial continuum like that offered by a graph, their structure can be more easily apprehended. This particular advantage of graphic presentation clearly relates to the popularity of graphs for representing functional relationships in science, as Attneave (1974) has pointed out. Attneave argues that one human means for representing relationships in the brain is an analogue
An earlier study had concluded that (a) facilitation of short-term recall for auditory digit sequences by increases in digit duration were due to increased rehearsal time available under these conditions, and that this extra rehearsal time was more facilitative at longer rather than at shorter retention intervals; and (b) efficient encoding techniques improved recall regardless of retention interval length. The present study not only confirmed these conclusions for a situation where digit sequences received both a visual and an auditory encoding but also determined that the digit duration which is critical in terms of allowing significantly more rehearsal time is between .5 and 1 sec.Recent studies (Haber & Nathanson, 1969;Miscik, Smith, Hamm, Deffenbacher, & Brown, 1972 ;Sitterly, 1968) have shown that improvements in short-term retention of digit strings can be accomplished by increases in digit duration as well as interdigit interval, the latter effect having already been well established. In addition, Miscik et al. found that digit duration interacted with retention interval in that the facilitatory effect of longer durations was greater at longer retention intervals than at shorter ones. Perhaps as Miscik et al. suggested, extra rehearsal time associated with longer digit durations made these items more resistant to forgetting at longer retention intervals.Not surprisingly, Miscik et al. (1972) also found that more efficient encoding techniques (chunking) improved short-term retention of auditorily presented digits. Somewhat less expected, however, was the finding that chunking the digits was consistently superior to not chunking them at all digit durations and at all retention intervals. These two results suggested that (a) facilitation of recall by longer durations apparently cannot be explained in terms of longer durations allowing more time for chunking to operate, as 5s were able to chunk effectively at even the briefest duration (.5 sec); and (6) chunking either increased resistance to forgetting during stimulus presentation or permitted more effective retrieval regardless of retention interval.The present experiment attempted to determine whether the Miscik et al. (1972) findings also hold for a situation where digit strings receive a visual as well as an auditory encoding. Digit strings are presented visually with 5s required to group them aloud. If an increase in digit duration from .5 sec. to 1.0 sec. in the Miscik et al. study was critical in terms of extra rehearsal time, it would seem of interest to know whether parametric variations in duration less than .5 sec. are also critical to rehearsal 1 Special thanks are extended to Jerry Jarombek for his assistance in data collection and analysis and to Evan Brown for his helpful comments and suggestions.
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