Developmental differences in the memory search of categorized lists.

Abstract

Third and sixth graders were tested in a recognition memory task with short lists of items from either one or two categories. The latency data for one-category lists of either letters or digits were consistent with a serial-exhaustive model of memory search for both third and sixth graders. It was also found that the young children searched these lists more slowly than did the older children. For two-category lists, developmental differences were found in children's ability to use the category information to facilitate information retrieval. Although the category information was very salient for children of both ages, only the sixth graders were able to use it to modify their memory search. In fact, the sixth graders' two-category data were consistent with a particular nonexhaustive search strategy, the Random Entry Model, which has previously been identified for adult subjects. The similarity of the third graders' memory search for one-and two-category lists suggests that young children do not systematically use information that they have available in permanent memory to facilitate their performance in memory search.

Isolating the effects of symbolic distance, and semantic congruity in comparative judgments: An additive-factors analysis

“…A similar conclusion was reached by Keating and Bobbitt (1978). The rate of search following encoding also improves with age (Herrmann & Landis, 1977;Naus & Ornstein, 1977). Clearly, it is premature to implicate either the encoding or the comparison stage of processing to accommodate the finding that the magnitude of the symbolic distance effect reduces with age.…”

Effects of prenatal PCB exposure on cognitive processing efficiency and sustained attention.

“…There was no effect on ability to solve the discrimination problems, but the more highly exposed children took longer to reach the correct solution. This decreased efficiency may reflect more limited resources for processing problems requiring mental effort (Kail, 1986), slower execution of cognitive instructions (by analogy to “central processor cycle time” in a computer; Kail, 1991), or differences in task-relevant knowledge (Roth, 1983), strategies for performing the task (Naus & Ornstein, 1977), or level of motivation (Detterman, 1987). It has been suggested that processing efficiency may be an important determinant of efficiency in reading (Campione, Brown, & Ferrara, 1982), with faster readers having the ability to process a larger amount of text per visual fixation (Cooper & Regan, 1982).…”

Contextual effects on the short-term memory retrieval of schizophrenic young adults.

“…First, the slope reduction in the two-category condition of the first experiment clearly indicates strategic efficiency. Naus and her co-investigators (Naus, 1974;Naus et al, 1972;Naus & Ornstein, 1977) postulated a random entry model to account for the slope reduction. According to their model, items are stored by category, and the initial selection of which category to search is random.…”

“…Naus and her coinvestigators (Naus, 1974;Naus, Glucksberg, & Ornstein, 1972;Naus & Ornstein, 1977) presented evidence that when memory sets consist of items from more than one category, subjects tend to alter their search strategy; once they have searched the appropriate category, they ignore the remaining category or categories and execute a response. The result is reduced search and retrieval latencies (slope reduction).…”