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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Debbie Riby
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In working memory (WM) span tests participants have to maintain to-be-remembered information while processing other, potentially distracting, information. Previous studies have shown that WM span scores are greater when span lists start with a long processing task and end with a short processing task than when these processing tasks are presented in the reverse order (e.g., Towse, Hitch, Hutton, 2000). In Experiment 1, we obtained a similar stimulus order effect in a reasoning span test, using reasoning sentences that were equated for length in terms of the number of constituent words, but which differed in processing complexity; span scores were greater when lists began with a complex sentence and ended with a simple sentence than when this stimulus order was reversed. In Experiment 2, the stimulus order effect was not found when processing duration was held constant while sentence complexity was varied using a computer-paced moving window presentation paradigm. These results suggest that duration-based constraints can affect degree of forgetting independently of the load generated during processing phases in WM span performance and therefore imply that time-related forgetting can occur in WM span tests, particularly when the difficulty of the processing component blocks active maintenance of to-be-remembered material.
Author(s): Saito S, Jarrold C, Riby DM
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Year: 2009
Volume: 62
Issue: 7
Pages: 1401-1419
Print publication date: 01/01/2009
ISSN (print): 1747-0218
ISSN (electronic): 1747-0226
Publisher: Psychology Press
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470210802426924
DOI: 10.1080/17470210802426924
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