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The statistical analysis of a model for storage and retrieval processes in human memory
Author(s) -
Batchelder William H.,
Riefer David M.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
british journal of mathematical and statistical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.157
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 2044-8317
pISSN - 0007-1102
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8317.1986.tb00852.x
Subject(s) - computer science , set (abstract data type) , statistical hypothesis testing , statistical model , simple (philosophy) , constant (computer programming) , variety (cybernetics) , section (typography) , storage model , statistics , data mining , artificial intelligence , machine learning , mathematics , philosophy , epistemology , programming language , operating system
The statistical theory is developed for a simple model, originally presented by Batchelder & Riefer (1980), that is capable of separately measuring storage and retrieval processes in human memory. The model is intended for use by researchers who have hypotheses about the effects of independent variables on storage and retrieval that are general enough not to demand any particular human memory paradigm for their test. In Section 1, the statistical model is presented in detail, along with an experimental paradigm for collecting data to be analysed by the model. In Section 2, parameter estimation for the model is provided assuming independent observations under constant conditions. Confidence regions for the parameters are also provided. In Section 3, hypothesis‐testing methods based on the likelihood ratio method are developed for a variety of hypotheses in the case where observations are available from several experimental conditions. These methods are also illustrated with a data set. In the conclusion, the relative advantages of the statistical model over traditional methods for studying storage and retrieval are discussed. Specifically, an example is presented where the traditional ANOVA approach yields very misleading conclusions.