Serial memory processing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:18, 8 April 2012

Revision as of 06:19, 8 April 2012

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In serial memory processing, [[Primacy effect]] and [[Recency effect]] effects for accuracy of recall are commonly found. These effects are found for both visual and auditory stimuli in memory tasks. <ref name=Parmentier /> These effects may exist if recall errors are due to serial position. There are more nearby serial positions to middle items in a set, and therefore more opportunities for mix-up. On the other hand, there are very few serial positions nearby to the first and last position, and therefore these positions may be remembered more accurately. The first and last position may be less error-prone positions and more easily recalled. <ref name=Naire />

The suffix effect, is an effect that removes the recency effect, simply by adding in a meaningless item at the end of the original memory set. However, the suffix effect varies based on the similarity of the item to the set. For visual stimuli, adding in the meaningless item, whether or not it is visually similar to the original memory set, will remove the recency effect. For auditory stimuli, adding in the meaningless item will only remove the recency effect if it is phonologically similar. Adding an item that is phonologically different (e.g. A, Q) will not have this effect. <ref name=ParmentierrParmienterr />

;Stimuli grouping effects

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;Other errors

There are other errors that exist in serial memory tasks. Serial position errors have been discussed earlier, in relation to the primacy and recency effect. These errors have been found to be independent from other errors, such as acoustic errors. Acoustic errors result from items that are phonologically similar. An example of this would be recalling “B” as opposed to the actual item “P”. These items are phonologically similar and can cause acoustic errors. These are related to the suffix effect as well, which found that the rececny effect was only removed when phonologically similar stimuli were used. <ref name=Bjork /> As well, other variables of verbal stimuli have been found to cause acoustic errors. Examples of these variables are word length, word frequency and lexicality. These interact to cause acoustic errors in serial memory tasks. <ref name=Burgess />

;Processing in atypical individuals