There has been extensive discussion of the causes of short-term forgetting. Some accounts suggest that time plays an important role in the loss of representations, whereas other models reject this notion and explain all forgetting through interference processes. The present experiment used the recent-probes task to investigate whether residual visual information is lost over the passage of time. On each trial, three unusual target objects were displayed and followed by a probe stimulus. The task was to determine whether the probe matched any of the targets, and the next trial commenced after an intertrial interval lasting 300 ms, 3.3 s, or 8.3 s. Of critical interest were recent negative (RN) trials, on which the probe matched a target from the previous trial. These were contrasted against nonrecent negative (NRN) trials, in which the probe had not been seen in the recent past. RN trials damaged performance and slowed reaction times in comparison to NRN trials, highlighting interference. However, this interfering effect diminished as the intertrial interval was lengthened, suggesting that residual visual information is lost as time passes. This finding is difficult to reconcile with interference-based models and suggests that time plays some role in forgetting.
Despite attempts at active maintenance in the focus of attention, the fragile nature of the visual nonverbal memory trace may be revealed when the retention interval between target memoranda and probed recall on a trial is extended. In contrast, a passively maintained or unattended visual memory trace may be revealed as persisting proactive interference extending across quite extended intervals between trials in a recent probes task. The present study, comprising five experiments, used this task to explore the persistence of such a passive visual memory trace over time. Participants viewed some target visual items (for example, abstract colored patterns) followed by a variable retention interval and a probe item. The task was to report whether the probe matched one of the targets or not. A decaying active memory trace was indicated by poorer performance as the memory retention interval was extended on a trial. However, when the probe was a member of the target set from the preceding trial, task performance was poorer than a comparison novel probe, demonstrating proactive interference. Manipulations of the intertrial interval revealed that the temporal persistence of the passive memory trace of an old target was impressive, and proactive interference was largely resilient to a simple 'cued forgetting' manipulation. These data support the proposed two-process memory conception (active-passive memory) contrasting fragile active memory traces decaying over a few seconds with robust passive traces extending to tens of seconds.
There is increasing evidence that the internal-external (I-E) concept is multidimensional. Responses to Collins's adaptation of Rotter's I-E scale were factor analyzed for a sample of 275 Army reservists. Four of the five factors found in this study substantially replicated Collins's four factors dealing with the easiness, justness, predictability, and political responsiveness of the world. The fifth factor dealt with the friendliness of the world. The total I-E scale and scales for the factors were shown to be selectively and moderately related to measures of Machiavellianism, intolerance of ambiguity, perceived quality of supervision, group atmosphere, and job satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding personality and predicting behavioral consequences of sources of reinforcements in the world.
Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. C.3 This report. es submitted by the contractor. has been cliered for release to Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) to comply with regulatory requirements. It has been given no primary distribution other than to DTIC Iand will be available only through DTIC or other reference services such a the National Technical Information S lervice (NTIS). The vicws. opinions, and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and thould not be construed sa an official Depattment of the Army position, policy, or decision, unless so designated by other official documentation.~R
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