Short-term memory for words with a perceptual-motor interpolated activity,

Abstract

It was maintained that the Brown-Peterson short-term memory (STM) task bears important similarities to procedures used in the study of division of attention, since during STM retention intervals there is competition between the tendencies to rehearse the memory item and to execute the filler activity. It follows that when both retention and filler-task performance are scored, either or both should be sensitive to variables known to affect the division of attention, such as task-complexity and practice. In two experiments recall for 5-word stimuli was tested after 24-sec intervals filled with a self-paced keypressing task as the interpolated activity. Evidence for the presence of rehearsal was the finding that keypressing scores were lower on memory trials than on control trials where no words were recalled. Furthermore, retention scores were found to be a complex joint function of the S-R compatibility, coherence (repetitiveness), and prior practice on the keypressing activity. The conclusions were that rehearsal is objectively demonstrable in STM, that its extent may be controlled by variation of the filler task, and that the relationships revealed by such variation are consistent with the experimental literature on divided attention.