The effect of long-term working memory through personalization applied to free recall: Uncurbing the primacy-effect enthusiasm

Abstract

In this study, a personalization method (Guida, Tardieu, & Nicolas, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21: 862-896 2009) was applied to a freerecall task. Fifteen pairs of words, composed of an object and a location, were presented to 93 participants, who had to mentally associate each pair and subsequently recall the objects. A 30-s delay was introduced on half of the trials, the presentation rate was manipulated (5 or 10 s per item), and verbal and visuospatial working memory tests were administered to test for their effects on the serial curve. Two groups were constituted: a personalized group, for whom the locations were well-known places on their university campus, and a nonpersonalized group, for whom the locations did not refer to known places. Since personalization putatively operationalizes long-term working memory (Ericsson & Kintsch, Psychological Review, 102: 211-245 1995)-namely, the capacity to store information reliably and rapidly in long-term memory-and if we take a dualstore approach to memory, the personalization advantage would be expected to be greater for pre-recency than for recency items. Overall, the results were compatible with long-term working memory theory. They contribute to validating the personalization method as a methodology to characterize the contribution of long-term memory storage to performance in working memory tasks.Keywords Working memory . Long-term working memory . Personalization . Free recall As has been stated by Rose, Myerson, Roediger, and Hale (2010), recent influential theories of working memory (WM) have been built around the link between long-term memory (LTM) and WM, postulating that WM is the activated portion of

Serial-position effects on a free-recall task in bilinguals

“…The positive correlation obtained between WM capacity and pre-recency effects is consistent with previous studies suggesting that high WM capacity is linked to better strategic memory retrieval (e.g., Unsworth, Brewer, and Spillers, 2011), especially of the items from the pre-recency regions (e.g., Guida et al, 2013). However, finding such a relationship only in the L1 but not in the L2 indicates that the ability to draw upon the WM system to support free recall is less viable in the context of a relatively weak linguistic knowledge base associated with the L2.…”

“…However, in order to boost power and to reduce the number of follow-up comparisons, primacy and middle region data were collapsed to yield pre-recency region data. This approach is in line with prior studies where pre-recency and recency effects (rather than primacy and recency effects) were contrasted (Guida et al, 2013). Each list was thus divided into the pre-recency region and the recency region.…”

“…and more effective retrieval plans than individuals with low WM capacity on a cued recall task. In addition, Guida et al (2013) found an interaction between serial-position effects on a free-recall task (pre-recency and recency) and WM span (high WM group and low WM group). Specifically, the difference in recall performance between the high WM group and the low WM group was present for the items in the pre-recency region (where presumably WM capacity could modulate LTM processes), but was reduced and non-significant for the items in the recency region (where presumably LTM processes could not modulate recall performance).…”

2011 space odyssey: spatialization as a mechanism to code order allows a close encounter between memory expertise and classic immediate memory studies

“…Notwithstanding Ericsson and Kintsch's (1995) generalization, the LT-WM theory remains underused in the classic domain of verbal immediate memory (but, see Guida et al, 2009, 2013). As stated by Ericsson and Kintsch (1995, p. 217) concerning the Skilled memory theory (but the same can be said for LT-WM), even if this theoretical construct is largely accepted as accounting for experts, “several investigators (e.g., Schneider and Detweiler, 1987; Carpenter and Just, 1989; Baddeley, 1990) have voiced doubts about its generalizability.” Retrieval structures are often dismissed because considered too artificial or idiosyncrasies to be reserved to experts.…”

Functional cerebral reorganization: a signature of expertise? Reexamining Guida, Gobet, Tardieu, and Nicolas' (2012) two-stage framework

“…When comparing neuroimaging before and after using the method of loci, they observed a pattern consistent with FCR at retrieval. Hence, if one argues that the method of loci is based on the utilization of expertise (Guida et al, 2009, 2013), the conclusion from Kondo et al (2005) could be that for FCR involving episodic LTM areas, the implication “expertise thus FCR” can be reversed, making the proposal that FCR is a signature for expertise verisimilar (when involving episodic LTM).…”