The Influence of Isolation on the Learning of Surrounding Materials

Smith, Moncrieff H.; Stearns, Ellen G.

doi:10.2307/1418278

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…This grouping strategy appeared to be responsible for the condition order effect: The participants that started with the isolation condition carried over this strategy in the control condition, which obscured the isolation effect in that group. This pattern of results has been observed previously by Smith and Stearns (1949) who presented two series of words for serial learning: a control list and one containing a centrally isolated red item. Participants who had started with the isolated list showed an isolation effect for the control list-that is, enhanced performance for the control item presented in the serial position in which the isolate had been presented.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

An Isolation Effect in Serial Memory for Spatial Information

Guérard

Hughes

Tremblay

2008

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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This paper reports the first demonstration of an isolation effect or von Restorff effect (von Restorff, 1933) in the context of a spatial-memory task: Short-term serial recall was enhanced for both the location and the serial position of one red dot presented amongst a sequence of otherwise black dots. When the serial position of the isolate was fixed, the spatial isolation effect only emerged when participants received a control block of trials before the block of isolation trials (Experiment 1). However, when the serial position of the isolate was varied across isolation trials, an isolation effect was still produced regardless of condition order (Experiment 2). It is suggested that both temporal grouping strategies and greater item-specific processing may have contributed to the enhanced retention of the isolate.When an item differs in some way from the other items in a verbal to-be-remembered sequence, memory for the distinct item is enhanced. This isolation effect or von Restorff effect-as it is also commonly known following its discoverer (von Restorff, 1933)-is a robust phenomenon that has been replicated numerous times in many different methodological settings. Although an isolation effect has been found when an item is postcategorically distinct from its neighbours (e.g., a digit amongst syllables; Fabiani & Donchin, 1995), in most demonstrations the isolate has been precategorically (or perceptually) distinct, in terms of, for example, its colour (e.g., Huang & Hynum, 1970;Rosen, Richardson, & Saltz, 1962) or size (e.g., Huang & Hynum, 1970;Kelley & Nairne, 2001). Such effects in which isolation is implemented through precategorical attributes suggest that the phenomenon is unlikely to be related specifically to verbal Correspondence should be addressed to Katherine Guérard, É cole de psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, G1K 7P4, Canada. E-mail: katherine.guerard.1@ulaval.caThanks are due to Josée Bluteau for assistance in running the experiment. We would also like to thank François Vachon for critical reading of an earlier draft.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

An Isolation Effect in Serial Memory for Spatial Information

Guérard

Hughes

Tremblay

2008

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…In some cases, the precise instructions given to the participants are not specified in the experimental report (see, e.g., the early study by Smith & Stearns, 1949). However, in other cases, it is clear that the participants were explicitly told to give greater emphasis to the isolated item (see, e.g., Waugh, 1969).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of item distinctiveness in short-term recall of order information

1998

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In two experiments, we examined short-term recall of order information using a partial-report distractor task. We manipulated the characteristics of a single letter in one of two four-letter segments. Participants knew in advance the identity of the letters in each segment. We made a single letter distinctive at presentation either by printing it in red or by replacing it with a red dash. Presenting the letter in red did not affect overall recall of the positions of the letters in the segment but did facilitate specific recall of the position of the distinct letter. Replacing the letter with a red dash inhibited overall recall as well as specific recall of the distinct letter. Participants were also less likely to respond in the regular output order when there was a dash replacing a letter in the segment. These effects of distinctiveness are explained in terms of output order processes in recent versions of the perturbation model.In the present experiments, we examined the role of distinctiveness in the short-term recall of temporal order information. To test exclusively for recall of order information, item information was provided to participants prior to and during testing, so that the participants knew the item information and had to learn only the order information. Distinctiveness refers to characteristics (or dimensions) of an item that make it qualitatively different from the remaining items on a list. For example, a known list ofletters may be presented with all the letters in black except for one letter in red. In this instance, coloring the letter makes it distinctive in contrast to the other letters in the list. This manipulation of distinctiveness can be viewed as one involving the augmentation ofstimulus in- -Accepted by previous editor, Geoffrey R. Loftus formation. At the opposite extreme is a manipulation of distinctiveness involving the reduction of stimulus information. For example, a known list of letters may be presented with all the letters in black except for one letter that is replaced by a red dash. In this instance, the absence of the letter and its replacement with a red dash make it distinctive in contrast to the other letters in the list. In both instances, the position of the distinctive letter is highlighted or made salient. Earlier investigations have used the first type ofmanipulation ofdistinctiveness and have generally found distinctiveness to facilitate the long-term recall of item information (see, e.g., Bellezza & Cheney, 1973). However, the effects of distinctiveness on the short-term recall oforder information remain largely unexplored for either type of manipulation. In the present set ofexperiments, we examined the effects of both types of manipulations of distinctiveness on the short-term recall of order information.During the past decade, our program ofresearch in the area of short-term recall of order information has followed a constant methodology (e.g., Cunningham, Healy, Till, Fendrich, & Dimitry, 1993;Cunningham, Healy, & Williams, 1984;Healy, Fendrich, Cunningham...

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“…SR: Cowan and Morey (2007); Logie et al (1990); Sanders and Schroots (1969) CD: Cowan and Morey (2007); Delvenne and Bruyer (2004); Fougnie and Marois (2006); Fougnie and Marois (2009) SR: Smyth and Pendleton (1990) IRec: Depoorter and Vandierendonck (2009) RRec: Depoorter and Vandierendonck (2009) CS: Barrouillet et al (2004); Barrouillet et al (2007); Barrouillet et al (2011); Camos et al (2009); Hudjetz and Oberauer (2007); Liefooghe et al (2008) Brown, Morin, and Lewandowsky (2006) Running memory span: Geiger and Lewandowsky (2008) IRec: C. Morin et al (2010) ROO: Lewandowsky et al (2006) 9.1.2. No temporal isolation effects in forward serial recall and serial recognition (C) SR: Nimmo and Lewandowsky (2005); Nimmo and Lewandowsky (2006) SRec: Farrell and McLaughlin (2007) SR: Peteranderl and Oberauer (2017) SR: Parmentier, King, et al (2006) 9.1.3 Nontemporal isolation effects (B) SR: Smith & Stearns (1949) (anticipation method) IRec: von Restorff (1933)/ Hunt (1995) PR: Calkins (1894) FR: Bireta et al (2008); Welch and Burnett (1924) ROO: Lippman (1980); Lippman and Lippman (197...…”

Section: Multiple-set Effects Within Domains (B)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Benchmarks for models of short-term and working memory.

Oberauer¹,

Lewandowsky²,

Awh³

et al. 2018

Psychological Bulletin

304

306

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Any mature field of research in psychology-such as short-term/working memory-is characterized by a wealth of empirical findings. It is currently unrealistic to expect a theory to explain them all; theorists must satisfice with explaining a subset of findings. The aim of the present article is to make the choice of that subset less arbitrary and idiosyncratic than is current practice. We propose criteria for identifying benchmark findings that every theory in a field should be able to explain: Benchmarks should be reproducible, generalize across materials and methodological variations, and be theoretically informative. We propose a set of benchmarks for theories and computational models of short-term and working memory. The benchmarks are described in as theory-neutral a way as possible, so that they can serve as empirical common ground for competing theoretical approaches. Benchmarks are rated on three levels according to their priority for explanation. Selection and ratings of the benchmarks is based on consensus among the authors, who jointly represent a broad range of theoretical perspectives on working memory, and they are supported by a survey among other experts on working memory. The article is accompanied by a web page providing an open forum for discussion and for submitting proposals for new benchmarks; and a repository for reference data sets for each benchmark. (PsycINFO Database Record

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The Influence of Isolation on the Learning of Surrounding Materials

Cited by 30 publications

References 0 publications

An Isolation Effect in Serial Memory for Spatial Information

An Isolation Effect in Serial Memory for Spatial Information

The role of item distinctiveness in short-term recall of order information

Benchmarks for models of short-term and working memory.

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