Pauses and durations exhibit a serial position effect

Haberlandt, Karl; Lawrence, Holly; Krohn, Lalia; Bower, Katherine; Thomas, J. Graham

doi:10.3758/bf03196361

Cited by 18 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Numerous studies have shown that backward recall enhances the recency effect, but diminishes the primacy effect (Anderson et al, 1998;Farrand & Jones, 1996;Hulme et al, 1997;Li & Lewandowsky, 1993Madigan, 1971).^ This empirical pattern is illustrated in Figure lA. Backward recall also exerts systematic effects on response time patterns (Haberlandt et al, 2005;Thomas et al, 2003). As can be seen in Figure IB, people leave a long pause prior to the first item to be output-in this case the last item in the sequence-as in forward recall.…”

Section: Backward Serial Position Curvesmentioning

confidence: 84%

Memory for serial order across domains: An overview of the literature and directions for future research.

Hurlstone¹,

Hitch²,

Baddeley³

2014

Psychological Bulletin

295

335

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From vocabulary learning to imitating sequences of motor actions, the ability to plan, represent, and recall a novel sequence of items in the correct order is fundamental for many verbal and nonverbal higher level cognitive activities. Here we review phenomena of serial order documented across the verbal, visual, and spatial short-term memory domains and interpret them with reference to the principles of serial order and ancillary assumptions instantiated in contemporary computational theories of memory for serial order. We propose that functional similarities across domains buttress the notion that verbal, visual, and spatial sequences are planned and controlled by a competitive queuing (CQ) mechanism in which items are simultaneously active in parallel and the strongest item is chosen for output. Within the verbal short-term memory CQ system, evidence suggests that serial order is represented via a primacy gradient, position marking, response suppression, and cumulative matching. Evidence further indicates that output interference operates during recall and that item similarity effects manifest during both serial order encoding and retrieval. By contrast, the principles underlying the representation of serial order in the visual and spatial CQ systems are unclear, largely because the relevant studies have yet to be performed. In the spatial domain, there is some evidence for a primacy gradient and position marking, whereas in the visual domain there is no direct evidence for either of the principles of serial order. We conclude by proposing some directions for future research designed to bridge this and other theoretical gaps in the literature.

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Section: Backward Serial Position Curvesmentioning

confidence: 84%

Memory for serial order across domains: An overview of the literature and directions for future research.

Hurlstone¹,

Hitch²,

Baddeley³

2014

Psychological Bulletin

295

335

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Cowan et al, 1992). Adult interword pauses can also exhibit position effects (Haberlandt et al, 2005). Several factors may operate here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Third, later sequence items may be accessed to a greater extent through (quicker) primary memory processes (Unsworth & Engle, 2006a). Alongside pause effects, differences in word production suggest that articulation is not modular but also incorporates concurrent recall processes (Haberlandt et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A body of research on recall timing has already contributed to our understanding of short-term memory (Cowan 1999;Cowan et al, 2003;Haberlandt, Lawrence, Krohn, Bowe, & Thomas, 2005;Hulme, Newton, Cowan, Stuart, & Brown, 1999). Findings highlight the idea that memory tasks involve not only item maintenance but also the construction and assembly of incomplete representations and their sequencing (Towse, Cowan, Hitch, & Horton, in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Some immediate serial recall paradigms display serial position effects in recall timing (Haberlandt et al, 2005, but see also Cowan et al, 1992). If participants can restrict memory search to not-yet-recalled items only, interword pauses will become shorter at later positions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The endurance of children’s working memory: A recall time analysis

Towse¹,

Hitch²,

Hamilton³

et al. 2008

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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We analyze the timing of recall as a source of information about children's performance in complex working memory tasks. A group of 8-year-olds performed a traditional operation span task in which sequence length increased across trials and an operation period task in which processing requirements were extended across trials of constant sequence length. Interword pauses were longer than are commonly found in immediate serial recall tasks yet shorter than for reading span. These pauses increased with the demands of recall, decreased across the output sequence, and were to some extent predictive of scholastic ability. Overall, timing data illustrate that recall in working memory tasks involves subtle processes of item access rather than simple readout of information from an immediate store.

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