Concreteness effects in short-term memory: A test of the item-order hypothesis.

Roche, Jaclynn; Tolan, Georgina Anne; Tehan, Gerald

doi:10.1037/a0024693

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…As a second alternative, there has been some suggestion that the concreteness effect is most robust when the memory task demands retrieval of item information rather than order information (Roche, Tolan, & Tehan, 2011;Romani et al, 2008). However, in our experiments the dynamic visual noise manipulation was sufficient to eliminate the concreteness effect in free recall and recognition, which have minimal demands for order information, but insufficient to eliminate it in serial recall, which requires order information.…”

Section: Concreteness Effectsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Does dynamic visual noise eliminate the concreteness effect in working memory?

Chubala

Surprenant

Neath

et al. 2018

Journal of Memory and Language

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Dynamic visual noise (DVN), an array of squares that randomly switch between black and white, interferes with certain tasks that involve visuo-spatial processing. Based on the assumption that the representation of concrete words includes an imagistic code whereas that of abstract words does not, Parker and Dagnall (2009) predicted that DVN should disrupt visual working memory and selectively interfere with memory for concrete words. They observed a reversal of the concreteness effect in both a delayed free recall and a delayed recognition test. In six studies, we partially replicate and extend their work. In Experiments 1 (delayed free recall) and 2 (delayed recognition), DVN abolished, but did not reverse, the concreteness effect. Experiments 3 and 4 found no effect of DVN on a prototypical working memory task, immediate serial recall: concreteness effects were observed in both the control and DVN conditions. In contrast, Experiment 5 showed that DVN abolished the concreteness effect in an immediate serial recognition test. In the final experiment, subjects did not know whether they would receive an immediate serial recall or an immediate serial recognition test until after the list had been presented. Nonetheless, DVN had no effect on immediate serial recall but once again eliminated the concreteness effect on immediate serial recognition. The results (1) extend the effects of DVN on the concreteness effect to working memory tasks, (2) suggest that immediate serial recall and immediate serial recognition are more different than similar, and (3) have implications for theories of DVN, the concreteness effect, and models of memory.

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Section: Concreteness Effectsmentioning

confidence: 55%

Does dynamic visual noise eliminate the concreteness effect in working memory?

Chubala

Surprenant

Neath

et al. 2018

Journal of Memory and Language

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“…Although not central to our primary question, it is noteworthy that Experiments 2 through 7 replicated the robust concreteness effect on memory (e.g., Begg et al, 1989;Hertzog et al, 2003;Hertzog et al, 2013;Roche, Tolan, & Tehan, 2011;Tauber & Rhodes, 2012;Tullis & Benjamin, 2012). Specifically, participants recalled more concrete words relative to abstract words.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

The concreteness effect on judgments of learning: Evaluating the contributions of fluency and beliefs

Witherby

Tauber

2016

Mem Cogn

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Researchers have often determined how cues influence judgments of learning (JOLs; e.g., concrete words are assigned higher JOLs than are abstract words), and recently there has been an emphasis in understanding why cues influence JOLs (i.e., the mechanisms that underlie cue effects on JOLs). The analytic-processing (AP) theory posits that JOLs are constructed in accordance with participants' beliefs of how a cue will influence memory. Even so, some evidence suggests that fluency is also important to cue effects on JOLs. In the present experiments, we investigated the contributions of participants' beliefs and processing fluency to the concreteness effect on JOLs. To evaluate beliefs, participants estimated memory performance in a hypothetical experiment (Experiment 1), and studied concrete and abstract words and made a pre-study JOL for each (Experiments 2 and 3). Participants' predictions demonstrated the belief that concrete words are more likely to be remembered than are abstract words, consistent with the AP theory. To evaluate fluency, response latencies were measured during lexical decision (Experiment 4), self-paced study (Experiment 5), and mental imagery (Experiment 7). Number of trials to acquisition was also evaluated (Experiment 6). Fluency did not differ between concrete and abstract words in Experiments 5 and 6, and it did not mediate the concreteness effect on JOLs in Experiments 4 and 7. Taken together, these results demonstrate that beliefs are a primary mechanism driving the concreteness effect on JOLs.

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“…The studies above, however, did not examine forward and backward recall in the same experiment, so it is hard to evaluate the strength of the word length effects in the studies in which there were significant effects. When the two directions are manipulated in the same experiment, word length effects are present in forward recall but absent in backward recall (Bireta et al, 2010;Roche, Tolan, & Tehan, 2011;Surprenant et al, 2011).…”

Section: Word Length In Forward and Backward Serial Recallmentioning

confidence: 99%

Word length and age influences on forward and backward immediate serial recall

Baker

Tehan

2011

Mem Cogn

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The present research is aimed at understanding the processes involved in short-term memory and how they interact with age. Specifically, word length effects were examined under forward serial recall, backward serial recall, and item recognition tasks, with performance being interpreted within an item-order theoretical framework. The interaction of age, word length, and direction of recall was examined in two experiments, the first of which confirmed that the word length was present with forward recall and absent with backward recall. In addition, age effects were stronger in backward recall than in forward recall. In the second experiment, an item-order trade-off methodology was utilized with backward recall. When order memory was required, there was no word length effect and strong age effects. When memory was tested via an item recognition test, there was a reverse word length effect and no age effect. While word length effects can be interpreted within the item-order framework, age effects cannot.Keywords Short-term memory . Word length . Foward recall . Backward recall . Aging Immediate forward serial recall of short lists of words is influenced by the length of the to-be-remembered words, such that lists of short words are better recalled in order than lists of long words (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchanan, 1975). The word length effect has been seen as one of the benchmark phenomena of short-term recall that models of short-term memory must account for. However, almost all theory development has occurred in the context of forward serial recall, and very little attention has been devoted to explaining performance on backward recall, and where it has been addressed (Page & Norris, 1998), it has been assumed that the same structures and processes that underpin forward recall also support backward recall. Recently, this assumption has proved to be untenable in that many of the benchmark effects of forward recall, including the word length effect, are eliminated or severely attenuated in backward recall (Bireta, Fry, Jalbert, Neath, Surprenant, Tehan, & Tolan, 2010). Thus, one of the aims of the present experiments was to understand why the word length effect differs for backward and forward recall.The second aim of the present study had to do with understanding age differences in short-term memory performance. Again, most of the focus in aging effects in short-term memory has concentrated upon forward serial recall, with very little research being conducted using backward recall. If forward and backward recall are not supported by the same mechanisms and processes, aging effects may well differ for forward and backward recall. At the very least, examining backward recall will provide additional empirical evidence with which to explore agerelated influences on short-term memory. Word length in forward and backward serial recallIn exploring word length effects, it appears that two forms of the effect need to be considered: the time-based effect and the syllable-based effect. The time-based effect refers to...

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Concreteness effects in short-term memory: A test of the item-order hypothesis.

Cited by 13 publications

References 41 publications

Does dynamic visual noise eliminate the concreteness effect in working memory?

Does dynamic visual noise eliminate the concreteness effect in working memory?

The concreteness effect on judgments of learning: Evaluating the contributions of fluency and beliefs

Word length and age influences on forward and backward immediate serial recall

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