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Testing the Idea of Distinct Storage Mechanisms in Memory
Author(s) -
Laming Donald
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/002075999399774
Subject(s) - recall , serial position effect , free recall , recall test , psychology , word (group theory) , latency (audio) , cognitive psychology , stimulus (psychology) , encoding specificity principle , computer science , linguistics , telecommunications , philosophy
This paper sets out quantitative foundations for testing the idea that memory is served by two distinct storage mechanisms, a short‐term and a separate long‐term store, using data from the single‐trial free‐recall experiment by Murdock and Okada (1970). In single‐trial free recall one can observe which word is recalled next and how long that recall takes, but that is all. So justification for two separate stores must turn either on the probabilities of recall, or on the latencies, for particular serial positions in the stimulus list. (a) Nearly one‐third of all recalls after the first are successors (Word n+1 immediately following recall of Word n) . So recall is dominated, not by absolute serial position (as a short‐term store would require), but by position relative to the preceding recall. (b) To a first approximation, all first recalls have the same latency distribution except for Word 1. A common latency distribution is compatible with a single store. An explanation is offered why Word 1 should take longer, in which Word 1 is the second retrieval from a common store. The idea of two separate stores appears to lack experimental support.