The grouping of list items is known to improve serial memory accuracy and constrain the nature of temporal errors. A recent study (M. T. Maybery, F. B. R. Parmentier, & D. M. Jones, 2002) showed that grouping results in a temporal organization of the participants' responses that mimics the list structure but not the timing of its presentation.…

The modality effect in immediate recall refers to superior recall of the last few items within lists presented in spoken as opposed to printed form. The locus of this well-known effect has been unclear. N. Cowan, J. S. Saults, E. M. Elliott, and M. Moreno (2002) introduced a new method to distinguish between the effects of input serial position,…

Using a network of comparisons, B. Hayes-Roth and F. Hayes-Roth found that subjects performed better on adjacent than on nonadjacent comparisons. Results suggested that such networks are processed in a manner fundamentally different from simple linear arrays. Here subjects were required to learn a similar knowledge structure. These results…

This research investigates whether subjects who receive the premises for a linear ordering in story format acquire a different memory structure and use a different solution algorithm than subjects who receive the same premises in equation format. (Author/RK)

The word length effect has been a central feature of theorising about immediate memory. The notion that short-term memory traces rapidly decay unless refreshed by rehearsal is based primarily upon the finding that serial recall for short words is better than that for long words. The decay account of the word length effect has come under pressure…

Study attempted to specify two complementary aspects of children's inferential size judgments within the context of Piaget's theory. (Authors)

The visual scanning of redundant and random spatial configurations of two-digit numbers was investigated in a target recognition task. The experimental technique involved a brief exposure of a probe (a two-digit number) at the center of the visual field, followed by a spatial pattern of 16 two-digit numbers which included the matching target in…

Recent experiments have shown that placing dissimilar items on lists of phonologically similar items enhances accuracy of ordered recall of the dissimilar items [Farrell, S., & Lewandowsky, S. (2003). Dissimilar items benefit from phonological similarity in serial recall. "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition," 29,…

Forty-eight grade-three children and 48 grade-eight children were presented respectively with six- and eight-letter sequences for written free recall. The older children, as had adult subjects in previous studies, showed a greater tendency to recall serially with a four-letters-per-second presentation rate than with a half- or…