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'''Serial memory processing''' is the act of attending to and processing one item at a time. This is usually contrasted against parallel memory processing, which is the act of attending to and processing all items simultaneously.
In short-term memory tasks, participants are given a set of items (i.e. letters, digits) one at a time and then, after varying periods of delay, are asked for recall of the items. As well, participants could be asked whether a specific target item was present in their original set. Serial memory processors would compare one item at a time, from their original set, and would not move to the next comparison until the previous is complete.<ref name=Townsend>Townsend, J. & Fific, M. (2004). Parallel versus serial processing and individual differences in high-speed search in human memory. ''Perception & Psychophysics, 66''(6).</ref>
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===''Overview''===▼
- Serial memory processing can be Self-Terminating and/or Exhaustive
- Self-Terminating = comparisons are made one at a time, as soon as target is found the comparisons stop abruptly and a response is generated <ref name=Townsend />. Internal representations of the memory set are compared to the target stimulus <ref name=Sternberg />
- Evidence for Self-Terminating = RT increases linearly with set size, the more items the longer it takes (because there is one more internal comparison to be done)<ref name=Sternberg />. For positive trials (where the target stimulus was in the memory set) the RT slope is half of that of negative trials (where the target stimulus was not in the memory set). This is because, theoretically, participants will stop comparisons halfway through the set once identifying the positive target. As well, the linear RT function remains for new or well-known memory sets, since comparisons are believed to be serial <ref name=Sternbergg />
▲==''Overview''==
==Article Briefs==
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