An “Across-the-Board” Modality Effect in Immediate Serial Recall

Routh, David A.

doi:10.1080/14640747608400557

Cited by 46 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…It should be noted, however, that through-list modality effects have been reported for recall tasks. Greene (1985), Routh (1976), and J. M. Gardiner, Gregg, and M. M. Gardiner (1984) have reported through-list modality effects in serial recall, and J. M. Gardiner et al (1984) have found them in free recall.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Modality effects in the coding reproduction of rhythms

et al. 1989

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The temporal coding assumption is that time of presentation is coded more accurately for auditory events than for visual events. This assumption has been used to explain the modality effect, in which recall of recent auditory events is superior to recall of recent visual events. We tested the temporal coding assumption by examining the coding and reproduction of quintessentially temporal stimuli-rhythms. The rhythms were produced by sequences of short and long auditory stimuli or short and long visual stimuli; in either case, the task was to reproduce the temporal sequence. The results from four experiments demonstrated reproduction of auditory rhythms superior to that of visual rhythms. We conclude that speech-based explanations of modality effects cannot accommodate these findings, whereas the findings are consistent with explanations based on the temporal coding assumption.In classic information processing models of memory (e.g., Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968), the input modality of information plays little role after the information is coded in short-term store. In fact, early work on the modality effect (e.g., Crowder & Morton, 1969) seemed to confirm this limited role: Auditory information is recalled better than is visual information, but only at the end of a list of items, supposedly indicating recall from a sensory memory or a short-term memory. In the intervening years, we have found, however, that modality plays a role throughout the cognitive system. For example, J. M. Gardiner and Gregg (1979) have demonstrated longlasting modality effects that are robust in the face of interference. Glenberg and Fernandez (1988) reported modality effects in position judgments and in frequency estimations. In this article, we report a new type of modality effect, one that offers support for a general interpretation of modality effects in memory. The new effect is that the coding and reproduction of rhythmic stimuli are more accurate for auditory rhythms than for visual rhythms. This supports the interpretation that modality effects reflect the fact that coding of temporal information for auditory events is superior to that for visual events. Glenberg and Swanson (1986) proposed an account of modality effects based on what we will call the temporal codingassumption: Coding of time of presentation is more accurate for auditory events than for visual events. Evidence for this claim can be found in a variety of paradigms using a variety of manipulations. For example, Metcalfe, This research was funded by National Science Foundation Grant BNS 8416300 and University of Wisconsin Graduate School Grant 890200 awarded to Arthur Glenberg. We thank Michael Davis, Lisa Knudson, Nancy Lightfoot, and Rebecca Mauer for their help in designing these experiments. Requests for reprints may be sent to Arthur G1enberg, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. 373Glavanov, and Murdock (1981) presented stimuli in different spatial locations. Auditory stimuli were recalled better than were visual stimuli when reca...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Modality effects in the coding reproduction of rhythms

et al. 1989

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“…3 The specifics of the masking process in the auditory case have not been fmally determined, but a detailed description of some possible mechanisms can be found in Crowder (1978a). In addition, the suffix is known to have other "across-the-board" effects (see Balota & Engle, 1981;Penney, 1985;Routh, 1976) that also will not be treated here. It is sufficient simply to note that suffixes may potentially interfere with both modalityindependent and modality-dependent features, but only the latter are primarily responsible for the selective impairment of recency.…”

Section: A Framework For Recency 347mentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for interpreting recency effects in immediate serial recall

1988

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A descriptive framework is offered for the interpretation of recency effects in immediate serial recall. Basic to the framework is a distinction between two types of trace features: (1) modalitydependent features, which represent the perceptual qualities of presentation, and (2) modalityindependent features, which result from the set of encoding operations known as the "inner voice." Recency and modality effects emerge because certain types of modality-dependent (i.e., languagebased) features are typically not subject to postlist interfering events and are likely to be sampled as discriminative cues in recall. The framework is used to interpret problematic findings in the modality effect literature, such as the effects of visual presentation, lipreading, mouthing, and stimulus class on the recall of recency items.The question of how we remember recently presented information as it recedes backward in time has occupied the attention of memory theorists for some time. The typical finding that items near the end of a list are remembered best has served as an empirical cornerstone for a number of memory issues; for example, the separation between primary and secondary memory stores has relied on variations in the recency effect in free recall for much of its empirical base (see Greene, 1986, for a review). The concern of the present article, however, is with the recency effect in immediate serial recall, a procedure in which subjects are presented with relatively short lists of items to be recalled immediately in the exact order of presentation. Of particular interest is the finding that the size of the recency effect in immediate serial recall is dramatically affected by the specific modality of stimulus presentation. The modality effect, as it is termed, refers to the fact that recency performance is enhanced for auditorally presented items relative to silent visual controls (Conrad

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“…Using a probed-recall task, Murdock (1967) found that the modality effect extended throughout a 10-item list as long as both probe and target were auditory, and Penney (1982b, Experiment 2) found a small suffix effect of similar extent. Routh (1976) obtained the auditory superiority throughout an 8-item list when subjects engaged in a concurrent writing task. If the PAS is hypothesized to contain information about only 1 or at most 2 items, it is difficult to see how the PAS model can account for suffix and modality effects that extend over 4 to 9 items.…”

Section: Alternate Accounts Of Modality Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modality effects and the structure of short-term verbal memory

1989

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The effects of auditory and visual presentation upon short-term retention of verbal stimuli are reviewed, and a model of the structure of short-term memory is presented. The main assumption of the model is that verbal information presented to the auditory and visual modalities is processed in separate streams that have different properties and capabilities. Auditory items are automatically encoded in both the A (acoustic) code, which, in the absence of subsequent input, can be maintained for some time without deliberate allocation of attention, and a P (phonological) code. Visual items are retained in both the P code and a visual code. Within the auditory stream, successive items are strongly associated; in contrast, in the visual modality, it is simultaneously presented items that are strongly associated. These assumptions about the structure of shortterm verbal memory are shown to account for many of the observed effects of presentation modality. Penney (1975) reviewed the literature on the effects of presentation modality on short-term retention of verbal material and concluded that there were separate stores for auditorily and visually presented information. To emphasize the idea that active processing underlies retention in short-term memory, and to discourage the conceptualization of short-term memory as a warehouse of decaying information, Penney (1980) introduced the term separate processing streams to replace the notion of separate memory stores. Since publication of the review paper, additional work on modality effects has supported the hypothesis of modality separation in the processing of verbal material in short-term memory (the separate-streams hypothesis), and new findings have elucidated the nature of the separate processing streams. The present paper is a review of the literature on modality effects and related phenomena, with the goal of presenting an integrated account in terms of the different properties and capabilities of the separate processing streams. These processing streams are seen to reflect the inherent structure of short-term verbal memory, and not to represent strategic processes.In 1975, the term modality effect referred to the finding that, in short-term memory tasks, auditory presentation almost always resulted in higher recall than did visual presentation. This modality effect was found for the recency part of the serial position curve in immediate free recall and in serial recall, and the auditory superiority was also found in the Peterson distractor task, provided that I would like to thank Donald Broadbent, Robert Crowder, Susan Manning, Bennet Murdock, James Nairne, Lars-Goran Nilsson, Charles Thompson, and Michael Watkins for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of the paper. Reprint requests may be addressed to the author, Psychology Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland AlB 3X9, Canada. the distraction did not require a long period of vocalization. Overt vocalization of a visually presented list by the subject produced much the sa...

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An “Across-the-Board” Modality Effect in Immediate Serial Recall

Cited by 46 publications

References 58 publications

Modality effects in the coding reproduction of rhythms

Modality effects in the coding reproduction of rhythms

A framework for interpreting recency effects in immediate serial recall

Modality effects and the structure of short-term verbal memory

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