Generalization of serial position in rote serial learning.

Schulz, Rudolph W.

doi:10.1037/h0048336

Cited by 46 publications

(26 citation statements)

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“…Although the item B never occurred with any of the items of the sequence it was recalled in, it kept its correct position from its original sequence. These and many other observations suggest that memory for positions is distinct and at least partially independent from other forms of sequential memory, and that positions must be encoded in a sufficiently abstract way so that they can be generalized from one sequence to another (e.g., Hicks, Hakes, & Young, 1966;Schulz, 1955).…”

Section: What Kinds Of Classes Did Participants Learn?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Primitive computations in speech processing

Endress

Mehler

2009

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Previous research suggests that artificial-language learners exposed to quasi-continuous speech can learn that the first and the last syllables of words have to belong to distinct classes (e.g., Endress & Bonatti, 2007;Peña, Bonatti, Nespor, & Mehler, 2002). The mechanisms of these generalizations, however, are debated. Here we show that participants learn such generalizations only when the crucial syllables are in edge positions (i.e., the first and the last), but not when they are in medial positions (i.e., the second and the fourth in pentasyllabic items). In contrast to the generalizations, participants readily perform statistical analyses also in word middles. In analogy to sequential memory, we suggest that participants extract the generalizations using a simple but specific mechanism that encodes the positions of syllables that occur in edges. Simultaneously, they use another mechanism to track the syllable distribution in the speech streams. In contrast to previous accounts, this model explains why the generalizations are faster than the statistical computations, require additional cues, and break down under different conditions, and why they can be performed at all. We also show that that similar edge-based mechanisms may explain many results in artificial-grammar learning and also various linguistic observations. Permanent repository link

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Section: What Kinds Of Classes Did Participants Learn?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A positional memory mechanism easily accounts for a preference for class-words (and why they can be accepted at all), as it is well known that learners can recognize the sequential positions of items also when the items are transplanted to a new sequence (e.g., Hicks et al, 1966;Schulz, 1955).…”

Section: Four Puzzles Solvedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primitive computations in speech processing

Endress

Mehler

2009

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…Further evidence which might be relevant was reported by Schulz (1955), who had Ss first learn a serial list and then identify the ordinal pOSitions of the items when these were presented randomly. Results indicated that the middle positions were most difficult to identify.…”

Section: Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Problem difficulty as a function of relative frequency of correct responses

Dominowski

1965

Psychon Sci

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AbstraetThe attempt was made to identify variables determining the order in which problem solving responses are made. On the initial problem, difficulty was inversely related to the relative frequency of the correct response. Over a series of problems, performance was more complexly related to relative frequency of the correct response, with the difficulty of identifying various relative frequency positions the additional factor. ProblemProblem solving behavior may be characterized as a sequence of responses that is terminated by the occurrence of the correct response. The spew hypothesis (Underwood & Schulz, 1960) states that the order of emission of verbal units is directly related to their frequency of experience. Applied to problem solving, the prediction is that initial attempts at solution will consist of high frequency responses, with responses of lower frequency attempted later. Difficulty of solution should thus be inversely related to the frequency of the correct response, relative to the frequencies of other responses which might be made.A series of problems can be constructed such that, for each problem, the possible responses are given, and the correct response occupies a particular position in terms of frequency relative to the incorrect responses. If S can identify this relative position, he will be able to select the correct response on subsequent problems with fewer errors.Underwood & Schulz (1960) demonstrated that Ss were able to judge accurately which of two bigrams (two-letter combinations) occurs more frequently in English, and that accuracy improved with increasing differences in frequency. Further evidence which might be relevant was reported by Schulz (1955), who had Ss first learn a serial list and then identify the ordinal pOSitions of the items when these were presented randomly. Results indicated that the middle positions were most difficult to identify. If this applies to a set of responses ordered in terms of frequency, then S should be better able to identify positions of high or low relative frequency, compared to positions of medium relative frequency. Therefore, in a series of problems whose solutions represent the same relative frequency position, S should be better able to reduce errors if the correct item represents a position of high or low relative frequency than if the correct item occupies a position of medium relative frequency.Psychon. Sci .. 1965. Vol. 3 ROGER L. DOMINOWSKII DEPAUL UNIVERSITYOverall performance was expected to be a function both of spew behavior and of the ability to identify relative frequency positions. The spew hypothesis predicts that problem difficulty will increase as the relative frequency of the correct response becomes lower. The "identification hypothesis" predicts that performance (over a series) will be better with correct responses of high or low relative frequency, compared to that with correct responses of medium relative frequency. Combining these predictions, as the correct response represents a lower relative frequency position, perf...

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“…The dimensional attribute may be spatial position, ordinal numbers, line lengths, reflectance, or any other attribute that can be graded from least to most or ftrst to last. Schulz (1955) has tested the hypothesis directly using ordinal numbers and HesIip & Epstein (in press) have tested it directly for spatial positions. In a direct test, S learns only one serial list.…”

Section: In Direct Tests Of the Effectiveness Of Cues That Can Bementioning

confidence: 99%

A methodological note on direct tests of the effectiveness of positional cues in serial learning

Heslip

1968

Psychon Sci

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66044In Often a series of items can be ordered conceptually along some dimension. EbenhoItz (1965) has suggested that this conceptual dimension may act as a cue in seriaI learning. The dimensional attribute may be spatial position, ordinal numbers, line lengths, reflectance, or any other attribute that can be graded from least to most or ftrst to last.Schulz (1955) has tested the hypothesis directly using ordinal numbers and HesIip & Epstein (in press) have tested it directly for spatial positions. In a direct test, S learns only one serial list. The effectiveness of the proposed cue is tested by presenting S with a cue from the ordered dimension and asking him to respond with the corresponding serial item. For example, E might present the number "six" and S would try to respond quickly with the sixth item in the serial list. It is assumed that S uses only the test cue to mediate recall; however, it is possible that he might respond to the number "six" by covertly reciting the fllSt six items in the list and then overtly emitting the sixth item. Schulz tried to eliminate thill potential confounding by requiring S to respond rapidly to the test item. However, there is no independent evidence to indicate how much time is required to covertly recite a sequence of items under these conditions of testing, so there is no way of knowing if immediate responding eliminates the possibility of recitation. The present study was designed to investigate this question. METHOD Each S received six memory-drum paced serial anticipation trials with a practice list followed by presentation of an experimental list of 13 words high in meaningfulness and frequency of occurrence (Noble & Parker, 1960). Each word was presented for 2 sec with a 4 sec intertrial interval. S was then confronted with a board divided into a series of 13 squares corresponding to the series of words in the list. The words, printed on pieces of cardboard, were presented to S one at a time in random order, and the time required to place each word in a square on the board was recorded. Each word was removed from the board before the next one was presented.Twenty-six Ss learned the list to a criterion of one-perfect-trial (OPT group). Every other S tested was assigned to one of two subgroups for the position placement task. One group (OPT-position) was told to place each word immediately on the spatial array in the location that looked like it represented the word's location in the list. They were told to use the spatial array as their only guide in placing each word. The other group (OPT-recitation) was told to covertly recite and count a sequence of words from a known position PSYChOD. Sci., 1968, Votl3 (4) up to the test word in order to pkice the word in its correct position. They were told to do this as rapidly as they possibly could and to tell E after each placement whether or not they had been able to recite a sequence of words to help place the word in its correct position.If the OPT-recitation group followed instructions, the latencies across list posi...

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Generalization of serial position in rote serial learning.

Cited by 46 publications

References 2 publications

Primitive computations in speech processing

Primitive computations in speech processing

Problem difficulty as a function of relative frequency of correct responses

A methodological note on direct tests of the effectiveness of positional cues in serial learning

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