Testing a positional model of the Hebb effect.

Full Abstract

In two experiments, we investigated the hypothesis that a strengthening of position-item associations underlies the improvement seen in performance on an immediate serial recall task, for a list that is surreptitiously repeated every third trial. Having established a strong effect of repetition, performance was tested on transfer lists in which half the items held the same position as in the repeated list (S-items) and the remainder moved (D-items). In Experiment 1, S-items showed a small advantage in order errors over control and D-items. A second experiment tested whether a design feature in Experiment 1 underlay this advantage. When the experimental design was better controlled, no improvement was shown for either S- or D-items over controls. These data were shown to be inconsistent with the results of computer simulations of a positional model. An alternative model is outlined.

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Author information

Author/s: Cumming, Nick (N); Page, Mike (M); Norris, Dennis (D);

Affiliation: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK. nick.cumming(-atsign-)mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Memory (Hove, England) (Memory), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 11 (issue 1) : pp 43-63

Dates: Created 2003/03/25; Completed 2003/05/16; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12653488, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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