Sensory Memory

Iconic Memory

Echoic Memory

Iconic Memory

What is the evidence?

Subjective experienceObjective measurements

Judge duration of a lightInterferenceSperling’s (1960) work

capacitydecay (forgetting)

Sensory Memory Iconic Memory

Echoic Memory also called Precategorical Acoustic Store (PAS)

Echoic Memory

What is the evidence?

InterferenceDarwin, Turvey & Crowder’s (1972) work capacity (auditory span of apprehension) decay (forgetting)Modality Effect (in terminal list positions)

Demo

Echoic Memory

What is the evidence?

InterferenceSuffix Effector Stimulus Suffix Effect

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Proportion of Items Recalled as a Function of List Position and List Type

List Position

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Proportion of Items Recalled as a Function of List Position and List Type

List Position

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

No suffix(tap or tone control)

Suffix

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Proportion of Errors as a Function of List Position and List Type

List Position

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

No suffix(tap or tone control)

Suffix

Echoic Memory

What is the evidence?Interference

Suffix Effector Stimulus Suffix Effect

suffix cue to recall hurts performance--a sort of backward mask

affects only end positionsparticularly the final position

Echoic Memory

What is the evidence?

InterferenceDarwin, Turvey & Crowder’s (1972) work capacity (auditory span of apprehension) decay (forgetting)Modality Effect (in end list positions)

Echoic Memory

Darwin, Turvey & Crowder’s (1972) work

present auditory matrix of letters (quickly)

task—report letterswhole report

partial report

Headphones

Headphones

“L 2 K” “4 F 8”

“9 G X”

Headphones

“L 2 K” “4 F 8”

“9 G X”

Letters/numbers sound like they are coming from 3 different locations

Report all of the letters/digits—whole reportparticipants do okay (but not great)

“L 2 K” “4 F 8”

“9 G X”

Partial report --Light cue signals

report from 1 location

Whole report – 4.2 letters/digits

Partial report – about 1.63 letters/digits x 3 locations = 4.9 letters/digits

Partial report superiority

Why?

Whole report – 4.2 letters/digits

Partial report – about 1.63 letters/digits x 3 locations = 4.9 letters/digits

Partial report superiority

Why? Relatively fast forgetting.

Darwin, Turvey, & Crowder’s (1972) work

Partial reportdelay report of row (w/ delayed cue)track performance as a function of delay

(retention interval)

Probability of Report as Function of Time  

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4

Probability of Report as Function of Time  

P(r)

1.00

0.0

Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4

.60

Probability of Report as Function of Time  

P(r)

1.00

0.0

Time (s)

0 1 2 3 4

.60 4.9 letters/digits

4.3 letters/digits(whole report

about 4.2)

Conclusion: Acoustic info or echo decays quickly(in about 4 s)

Important point: Acoustic info fades more slowly than visual info

This difference in decay rates is consistent with idea of different visual and acoustic stores

Echoic Memory

What is the evidence?

InterferenceDarwin, Turvey & Crowder’s (1972) work capacity (auditory span of apprehension) decay (forgetting)Modality Effect (in terminal list positions)

Demo

6

1

9

3

7

4

2

8

5

5

Demo

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Proportion of Items Recalled as a Function of List Position and Presentation Modality

List Position

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

P(r)

1.0

0.0

Proportion of Items Recalled as a Function of List Position and Presentation Modality

List Position

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Auditory

Visual

Echoic MemoryWhat is the evidence?

Modality Effectperformance for stimuli presented in one modality better than performance for stimuli presented in a different modality

In this case: auditory > visualIn this case: Effect occurs only in the end

(terminal) list positions

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

What is the evidence?

InterferenceDarwin, Turvey & Crowder’s (1972) work capacity (auditory span of apprehension) decay (forgetting)Modality Effect (in terminal list positions)

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

A few problems:

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

A few problems:

1) Reasoning:

Acoustic info fades in about 4 sAcoustic interference should occur for

suffixes presented up to roughly 4 s after the final item

Suffix effect should disappear after about 4 s

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

A few problems:

1) Suffix effect obtained after 20-s delay(Watkins & Todres, 1980)

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

A few problems:

2) Reasoning: Acoustic info fades in about 4 s

Modality effect should occur for retention intervals of 4 s or less

Modality effect should not occur after 4-s retention interval

Echoic Memory(Precategorical Acoustic Store)

A few problems:

1) Suffix effect obtained after 20-s delay(Watkins & Todres, 1980)

2) Modality effect obtained after 20-s retention interval (Watkins & Watkins, 1980)

Have a good day!