Effect of instructions on memory for temporal order

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A-human Experimental Psychology, 2003

Many recent computational models of verbal short-term memory postulate a separation between processes supporting memory for the identity of items and processes supporting memory for their serial order. Furthermore, some of these models assume that memory for serial order is supported by a timing signal. We report an attempt to find evidence for such a timing signal by comparing an "item probe" task, requiring memory for items, with a "list probe" task, requiring memory for serial order. Four experiments investigated effects of irrelevant speech, articulatory suppression, temporal grouping, and paced finger tapping on these two tasks. In Experiments 1 and 2, irrelevant speech and articulatory suppression had a greater detrimental effect on the list probe task than on the item probe task. Reaction time data indicated that the list probe task, but not the item probe task, induced serial rehearsal of items. Phonological similarity effects confirmed that both probe tasks induced phonological recoding of visual inputs. Experiment 3 showed that temporal grouping of items during list presentation improved performance on the list probe task more than on the item probe task. In Experiment 4, paced tapping had a greater detrimental effect on the list probe task than on the item probe task. However, there was no differential effect of whether tapping was to a simple or a complex rhythm. Overall, the data illustrate the utility of the item probe/list probe paradigm and provide support for models that assume memory for serial order and memory for items involve separate processes. Results are generally consistent with the timing-signal hypothesis but suggest further factors that need to be explored to distinguish it from other accounts.

2005

We examined the influence of encoding and generation processes on distinctiveness, isolation, and background effects in short-term recall of order information. Adults recalled the order of letters in one of two segments following a distractor task, knowing in advance the identity of the letters. A distinctive letter was one that was either in red or absent and replaced with a red dash, thereby requiring generation. On trials with a distinctive letter, the letter was primed in advance. A negative generation effect was found; in addition, there was a positive distinctiveness effect but a negative background effect on trials in which generation was required. These effects can be explained in terms of the extra processing given to distinctive items when they need to be generated.

Memory & Cognition, 2015

The hypotheses that memories are ordered according to time and that contiguity is central to learning have recently reemerged in the human memory literature. This article reviews some of the key empirical findings behind this revival and some of the evidence against it, and finds the evidence for temporal organization unconvincing. A central problem is that, as many memory experiments are done, they have a prospective, as well as a retrospective, component. That is, if subjects can anticipate how they will be tested, they encode the to-be-remembered material in a way that they believe will facilitate performance on the anticipated test. Experiments that avoid this confounding factor have shown little or no evidence of organization by contiguity.

Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1986

Presenting short sequences of items in temporal or spatial groups is known to improve recall of their order. Theories about this effect propose either that groups of items are represented in a hierarchical structure in which the positions of items in a group are nested under codes denoting the groups themselves, or in a matrix structure where each item is directly tagged for its group and position. In a matrix system, position codes are independent of group codes, and the retrieval of a code near the bottom of a hierarchy depends on the successful retrieval of the codes above it. Experiments 1-4 tested these dependence relationships with a probed recall procedure in which subjects were presented with a grouped sequence of items and were then required to recall the position and group of one of the items. This technique provided information about how well subjects correctly recalled both the group and position, the group only, the position only, and neither the group nor the position of an item. When the items in a group were letters, digits, or musical notes, the data conformed to a hierarchical structure. When the nonalphanumeric characters ~, $, %, & , . , +, @, T, <, were used, a matrix structure emerged.

Acta Psychologica, 2009

We compare three models of representation of item order in a verbal STM task: item-item associations, item-position associations, and primacy gradient. A speeded probed recall task is used, in which a list of words is presented, immediately followed by a probe; participants must report as fast as possible the word that was in the probed position. In the number probe condition, a digit is presented and one must say the word in that position. In the word probe condition, the probe is an item of the list and participants must say the immediately following item. Response times (RTs) are analyzed according to probe type and position. The three models imply different predictions about RTs as a function of serial order in the two conditions. Our results suggest a serial, self-terminating search from the beginning of the list to the target position, except for the final position, which is directly accessible. The item-item and item-position association models are ruled out; the primacy gradient model accounts satisfactorily for our results, except for the finding of a larger recency effect with a number probe. Alternative interpretations are also discussed.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 2011

Journal of Cognitive Psychology

Order is critical for many daily activities. Developmental research has shown that memory for order in action is the least prioritised in a processing hierarchy, and is sensitive to deviant input. The current research investigated these aspects of sequence learning are also present in adults. Participants learned a novel sequence across several exemplars with either easy-or difficult-to-categorize items, which either did or did not involve a deviant order on one exemplar, and were later asked to recall the sequence. Memory for individual sub-actions and order was stronger in the easy conditions, and the deviant order significantly deteriorated ordered recall in the difficult condition only. These findings support the theorised processing hierarchy, with the presence of a deviant order having a larger effect on memory when the load at the earlier item stage is increased. These results have implications for theories of working memory and learning in real-world contexts.

Journal of Memory and Language, 2006

According to temporal distinctiveness models, items that are temporally isolated from their neighbors during list presentation are more distinct and thus should be recalled better. Event-based theories, by contrast, deny that time plays a role at encoding and predict no beneficial effect of temporal isolation, although they acknowledge that a pause after item presentation may afford extra opportunity for a consolidation process such as rehearsal or grouping. We report two experiments aimed at differentiating between the two classes of theories. The results show that neither serial recall nor probed recall benefit from temporal isolation, unless participants use pauses to group a list. Simulations of the SIMPLE model provide convergent evidence that short-term memory for serial order need not involve temporal representations.

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental …, 2003

Journal of Memory and Language, 1997

Previous experiments had obtained theoretically interesting differences between the short-term retention of temporal, spatial, and item information. Two experiments are reported which compared the learning, relearning, and long-term retention of temporal, spatial, and item information. In Experiment 1, 20 common nouns were presented sequentially within a vertical array on a computer screen. Subjects reported the identity of the nouns, their temporal sequence, or their spatial location within the array. Retention was then tested after a one week delay after which subjects relearned the list. Spatial information was learned most slowly, followed by temporal, and then item information. In Experiment 2, the presentation array was changed to two 3 1 3 matrices. Faster learning was found for spatial compared to temporal information, the opposite of what was observed in Experiment 1. The results are explained in terms of the benefits of spatial distinctiveness. ᭧ 1997 Academic Press Previous studies of short-term retention 1964). Third, the serial position function is from our laboratory have revealed important bow-shaped and symmetrical, so that recall differences in the coding and durability of inexhibits both a primacy and a recency advanformation about temporal sequence, spatial artage (e.g., Bjork & Healy, 1974). All three of rangement, and item identity in a list (see, these fundamental findings are linked, how

2002

Serial order processing or Sequence processing underlies many human activities such as speech, language, skill learning, planning, problem solving, etc. Investigating the neural bases of sequence processing enables us to understand serial order in cognition and helps us building intelligent devices. In the current paper, various cognitive issues related to sequence processing will be discussed with examples. Some of the issues are: distributed versus local representation, pre-wired versus adaptive origins of representation, implicit versus explicit learning, fixed/flat versus hierarchical organization, timing aspects, order information embedded in sequences, primacy versus recency in list learning and aspects of sequence perception such as recognition, recall and generation. Experimental results that give evidence for the involvement of various brain areas will be described. Finally, theoretical frameworks based on Markov models and Reinforcement Learning paradigm will be presented. These theoretical ideas are useful for studying sequential phenomena in a principled way.

Psychological Bulletin, 2014

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.

Behavioural Processes, 2006

Theories of animal timing have had to account for findings that the memory for the duration of a timed interval appears to be dramatically shorted within a short time of its termination. This finding has led to the subjective shortening hypothesis and it has been proposed to account for the poor memory that animals appear to have for the initial portion of a timed interval when a gap is inserted in the to-be-timed signal. It has also been proposed to account for the poor memory for a relatively long interval that has been discriminated from a shorter interval. I suggest here a simpler account in which ambiguity between the gap or retention interval and the intertrial interval results in resetting the clock, rather than forgetting the interval. The ambiguity hypothesis, together with a signal salience mechanism that determines how quickly the clock is reset at the start of the intertrial interval can account for the results of the reported timing experiments that have used the peak procedure. Furthermore, instructional ambiguity rather than memory loss may account for the results of many animal memory experiments that do not involve memory for time.

Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), 2016

How can we grasp the temporal structure of events? A few studies have indicated that representations of temporal structure are acquired when there is an intention to learn, but not when learning is incidental. Response-to-stimulus intervals, uncorrelated temporal structures, unpredictable ordinal information and lack of metrical organization have been pointed out as key obstacles to incidental temporal learning, but the literature includes piecemeal demonstrations of learning under all these circumstances. We suggest that the unacknowledged effects of ordinal load may help reconcile these conflicting findings, ordinal load referring to the cost of identifying the sequence of events (e.g., tones, locations) where a temporal pattern is embedded. In a first experiment, we manipulated ordinal load into simple and complex levels. Participants learned ordinal-simple sequences, despite their uncorrelated temporal structure and lack of metrical organization. They did not learn ordinal-compl...

Journal of Memory and Language, 2008

According to temporal distinctiveness models, items that are temporally isolated from their neighbors during list pre-10 sentation are more distinct and thus should be recalled better. Contrary to that expectation of distinctiveness views, 11 much recent evidence has shown that forward short-term serial recall is unaffected by temporal order tasks that con-12 firmed that when report order is strictly forward, temporal isolation does not benefit performance. However, both 13 experiments also showed that when report order is unconstrained, temporal isolation does benefit performance. The 14 differences between forward and unconstrained report were found to be independent of whether or not people can antic-15 ipate the type of test at encoding. The presence and absence of isolation effects under two different conditions, both 16 requiring memory for order, challenges many existing theories of memory but is compatible with the idea that multiple 17 differentially weighted types of information contribute to memory retrieval. 18