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Serial memory processing

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Serial memory processing is the act of attending to and processing one item at a time. This is usually contrasted against parallel memory processing, which is the act of attending to and processing all items simultaneously. In short-term memory tasks, participants are given a set of items (e.g. letters, digits) one at a time and then, after varying periods of delay, are asked for recall of the items. As well, participants could be asked whether a specific target item was present in their original set.[1]

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Overview

- Serial memory processing can be Self-Terminating and/or Exhaustive. Internal representations of the memory set are compared to the target stimulus. RT increases linearly with set size, the more items the longer it takes (because there is one more internal comparison to be done)[2].

- Self-Terminating = comparisons are made one at a time, as soon as target is found the comparisons stop abruptly and a response is generated [1]

- Evidence for Self-Terminating = For positive trials (where the target stimulus was in the memory set) the RT slope is half of that of negative trials (where the target stimulus was not in the memory set). This is because, theoretically, participants will stop comparisons halfway through the set once identifying the positive target. As well, the linear RT function remains for new or well-known memory sets, since comparisons are believed to be serial. [3]

- Exhaustive = comparisons are made one at a time until the entire set as been compared. After completing all comparisons, than a response is generated [1]

- Evidence for Exhaustive = The RT slope for positive trials and negative trials is the same because, theoretically, whether the target stimulus is present or not, the participants will compare through the entire set before generating their response [2]

Characteristics of Processing

Primacy and Recency Effects

- Primacy effect and Recency effect for accuracy of recall are found for both visual stimuli [4] and auditory stimuli [5]

- Theorized due to the belief that errors are due to serial position. There are more nearby serial positions to the middle item in a set, as opposed to the first and last items in a set. The first and last items are remembered more accurately because their are less error-prone positions [6]

- Suffix effect, removes the recency effect by adding a meaningless item at the end of a memory set. For visual stimuli, adding a meaningless item, whether or not it is visually similar to the memory set, will remove the recency effect. For auditory stimuli, only adding a meaningless item that is phonologically similar works to remove the recency effect. Those that are phonologically different (e.g. A, Q) will not have this effect [7]

Stimuli Grouping Effects

- Spatial Grouping refers to items in the memory set being grouped spatially (e.g. item's 1,2,3 are in the top right corner and item's 4,5,6 are in the bottom left corner). The longer the spatial pathway from item to item, the slower the recall and lower the accuracy. Item's that have a small spatial pathway between them are remembered better and recalled faster [4]

- Temporal Grouping refers to items in the member set being presented temporally (e.g. item's 1,2,3 are presented simultaneously and then 5 seconds later item's 4,5,6 are presented simultaneously). When item's are grouped temporally, the accuracy of recall is higher than when they are not grouped as so. As well, evidence for participants created groupings even when items are not temporally grouped (e.g. recall RT's peak at 1st,4th,7th items) [4]

Other Errors

- Serial position errors are different and independent from acoustic errors. Acoustic errors represent items that are phonologically similar (related to Suffix effect (e.g. A, Q)) [8]

- Other variables for verbal stimuli such as word length, word frequency and lexicality have been found to cause acoustic errors [9]

Processing in Atypical Individuals

- When mental age is equal, no difference on serial memory tasks or children with autism [10]

Neuro-perspective

- Prefrontal cortex and [Hippocampal region|Hippocampus]] related to serial memory processing. Lesions in these areas are related to impaired ability to remember temporal order [11].

- Rats with lesioned prefrontal cortex's can only remember the first item in a set of 2. As well, the rats increase their corticosterone when experiencing stress during a serial memory task [12].

-Rats with lesioned hippocampal region's can only remember the second item in a set of 2. However, they do not increase their corticosterone when experiencing stress during the serial memory task [12].

- LH found to be better at serial processing and serial memory comparison than RH [13].

Models

- ACT-R is Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational. This model help to hierarchically organize serial memory. In this model, declarative memory works to encode the position of items while the production memory works to organize recall of items. This is a limited-capacity model, where there is a limited amount of activation available. This theorizes that longer memory sets lead to longer recall because the amount of activation available is divided among more items. The ACT-R models the serial position error [6] and the independent acoustic errors [8] near perfectly. [14]

Article Briefs

Serial Processing Overview [2]

More Serial Processing Overview [3]

Spatial and Temporal Grouping effect [4]

Serial Memory in Children with Autism [10]

Brain Areas [11]

More Brain Areas [12]

Primacy/Recency Effects [5]

Serial Memory Encoding [15]

Forgetting Curve / Uncertainty Gradient [6]

Acoustic Confusions [8]

ACT-R Model, related to Ref. 4,10, 11** [14]

Effects on Serial Memory Errors [9]

Suffix Effect [7]

Hemispheric Laterality [13]

References

  1. ^ a b c Townsend, J. & Fific, M. (2004). Parallel versus serial processing and individual differences in high-speed search in human memory. Perception & Psychophysics, 66(6).
  2. ^ a b c Sternberg, S. (1966). High-speed scanning in human memory. Science, 153(1).
  3. ^ a b Sternberg, S. (1969). Memory-scanning: Mental processes revealed by reaction-time experiments. American Scientist, 57(4).
  4. ^ a b c d Parmentier, F. B., Andres, P., Elford, G., & Jones, D. M. (2006). Organization of visuo-spatial serial memory: Interaction of temporal order with spatial and temporal grouping. Psychological Research, 70(1).
  5. ^ a b Avons, S. E. (1998). Serial report and item recognition of novel visual patterns. British Journal of Psychology, 89(1).
  6. ^ a b c Nairne, J. S. (1992). The loss of positional certainty in long-term memory.Psychological Science, 3(3).
  7. ^ a b Parmentier, F. B., Tremblay, S., & Jones, D. M. (2004). Exploring the suffix effect in serial visuospatial short-term memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11(2).
  8. ^ a b c Bjork, E. L., & Healy, A. F. (1974). Short-term order and item retention. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(1).
  9. ^ a b Burgess, N., & Hitch, G. H. (1999). Memory for serial order: A network model of the phonological loop and its timing. Psychological Review, 106(3).
  10. ^ a b Prior, M. R., & Chen, C. S. (1976). Short-term and serial memory in autistic, retarded, and normal children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 6(2).
  11. ^ a b Chiba, A., Kesner, R., & Reynolds, A. (1994). Memory for spatial location as a function of temporal lag in rats: Role of hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex. Behavioral and Neural Biology 61(1).
  12. ^ a b c Chauveau, F., et al. (2009). The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are differentially involved in serial memory retrieval in non-stress and stress conditions. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 91(1).
  13. ^ a b O'Boyle, M. W., & Hellige, J. B. (1982). Hemispheric asymmetry, early visual processes, and serial memory comparison. Brain and Cognition, 1(1).
  14. ^ a b Anderson, J. R., & Matessa, M. (1997). A production system theory of serial memory. Psychological Review, 104(4).
  15. ^ Connor, J. M. (1972). Serial and parallel encoding processes in memory and visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 96(2).
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