Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1337818585.pdf (234.56 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

List length and word frequency effects in the Sternberg paradigm

Chapman, Allison M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337818585

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Psychology.
There is building evidence in long-term recognition memory paradigms documenting a null list length effect (LLE) in which performance is not improved for items studied in shorter lists compared with items from longer lists. The global-matching mechanism implemented in many recognition memory models predicts that the LLE is a direct consequence of item noise. In these models, item noise is also assumed to drive the word-frequency effect (WFE) -- a recognition advantage for words that occur with low frequency in English compared to words that occur with high frequency. The current experiments modified a short-term recognition memory task (the Sternberg paradigm) to include an extended and/or filled delay between study and test lists, and manipulated word frequency. Results demonstrated a null LLE when the design included both a longer study-test lag and a distracter task. Frequency effects emerged only when there was an unfilled delay and a distracter task separating the study-test cycles. These results suggest that item interference is not implicated in short-term recognition memory for words, and contextual reinstatement must be sufficiently noisy to demonstrate the low frequency word advantage. BCDMEM is able to succinctly capture the range of findings that seem to provide evidence against distinct short-term- and long-term-memory systems.
Simon Dennis, PhD (Advisor)
Mark Pitt, PhD (Committee Member)
Per Sederberg, PhD (Committee Member)
61 p.
Cognitive Psychology
recognition memory; memory models; computational modeling; Sternberg paradigm; list length effect; word frequency effect

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chapman, A. M. (2012). List length and word frequency effects in the Sternberg paradigm [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337818585

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chapman, Allison. List length and word frequency effects in the Sternberg paradigm. 2012. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337818585.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chapman, Allison. "List length and word frequency effects in the Sternberg paradigm." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1337818585

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1337818585
1,124
© 2012, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.