Memory span: a review of the literature.

Blankenship, A. B.

doi:10.1037/h0061086

Cited by 110 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…One of the most commonly used tests of memory span is Digit Span (Blankenship, 1938;Dempster, 1981). According to Bronner, Healy, Lowe, and Shimberg (1927), Digit Span was in use as early as 1887.…”

Section: The Case For Digit Spanmentioning

confidence: 99%

The magical numbers 7 and 4 are resistant to the Flynn effect: No evidence for increases in forward or backward recall across 85 years of data

Gignac

2015

Intelligence

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Section: The Case For Digit Spanmentioning

confidence: 99%

The magical numbers 7 and 4 are resistant to the Flynn effect: No evidence for increases in forward or backward recall across 85 years of data

Gignac

2015

Intelligence

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“…Crannel and Parrish (1957), for instance, found that memory span for digits was about 60% greater than that for random words. A variation of memory span with class of item is also apparent from reviews of the memory span literature (e.g., Blankenship, 1938;Brener, 1940;Cavanagh, 1972).…”

Section: Memory Spanand Primary Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The intricacy of memory span

1977

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The effects of word frequency on memory span were explored using the "up-and-down" method. Mean spans were greatest when the sequences were of all high-frequency words (5.82), and smallest when they were of all low-frequency words (4.24). For mixed-frequency sequences, mean spans were greater when the high-frequency words were presented before the low-frequency words (5.19) than when the low-frequency words came first (4.65). The findings are discussed in terms of the primary-secondary memory distinction worked out for single-trial free recall, and the logic of this distinction is used to argue against attributing span performance to a simple unitary process.The concept of memory span is as old as the experimental study of memory itself. Thus, in the very first such investigation, Ebbinghaus (l885/1964) found that he could almost always reproduce a series of up to seven items after just a single presentation, whereas for longer series correct reproduction usually required many presentations. Shortly after publication of Ebbinghaus' monograph, it was shown that the immediate memory span, or "span of prehension," was a valid measure of mental capacity (Galton, 1887; Jacobs, 1887), and it soon found its place in clinical diagnosis and intelligence testing.Despite its splendid history, the concept of memory span has been subjected to remarkably little critical analysis. Today we know hardly any more about memory span, about the extraordinary effect of increasing list length over a comparatively short range, than Ebbinghaus knew. This neglect is made the more striking by the intensive current interest in the immediate serial recall of supraspan lists. No doubt the primary reason for this discrepancy lies in the difference in the readiness with which span and supraspan recall submit to analysis. In particular, the items of supra span lists can be classified according to whether or not they are recalled, thereby allowing serial position functions to be drawn, analyzed, and given a theoretical interpretation. With span recall, on the other hand, we lack suitable techniques for revealing any influence of serial position. The purpose of this paper is to suggest one such technique, and to use it to test the hypothesis that span recall is the product of a simple unitary process.Before proceeding to the experiment, it is perhaps important to consider the relevance for span recall of the findings and theories of supraspan research. It might be held that whether list length is just short This research was supported by National RelleUch Council of Canada Grant A8632 to Endel Tulving. Requests for reprints may be sent to Michael J. Watkins at the Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540. enough or just too long for perfect reproduction has little effect on the underlying mechanisms. We will argue that there are currently few if any good reasons for this view. A rather different view is that, unlike supraspan recall, the perfect reproduction of a list reflects a basic attribute of mental functio...

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“…The earliest published studies on the topic go back to the 19th century (Nipher, 1876), and by the 1930s, enough work had been done to warrant the publication of a literature review (Blankenship, 1938). Today, the PsycINFO database lists over 800 articles under the search term serial recall, with over 250 of these also found under shortterm or working memory, and over 150 focusing on the single, hallmark task of immediate serial recall (ISR).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term memory for serial order: A recurrent neural network model.

Botvinick¹,

Plaut²

2006

Psychological Review

329

413

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Despite a century of research, the mechanisms underlying short-term or working memory for serial order remain uncertain. Recent theoretical models have converged on a particular account, based on transient associations between independent item and context representations. In the present article, the authors present an alternative model, according to which sequence information is encoded through sustained patterns of activation within a recurrent neural network architecture. As demonstrated through a series of computer simulations, the model provides a parsimonious account for numerous benchmark characteristics of immediate serial recall, including data that have been considered to preclude the application of recurrent neural networks in this domain. Unlike most competing accounts, the model deals naturally with findings concerning the role of background knowledge in serial recall and makes contact with relevant neuroscientific data. Furthermore, the model gives rise to numerous testable predictions that differentiate it from competing theories. Taken together, the results presented indicate that recurrent neural networks may offer a useful framework for understanding short-term memory for serial order.

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Memory span: a review of the literature.

Cited by 110 publications

References 91 publications

The magical numbers 7 and 4 are resistant to the Flynn effect: No evidence for increases in forward or backward recall across 85 years of data

The magical numbers 7 and 4 are resistant to the Flynn effect: No evidence for increases in forward or backward recall across 85 years of data

The intricacy of memory span

Short-term memory for serial order: A recurrent neural network model.

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