Abstract
To examine why Averbach & Coriell (1961), in their experiment on short-term visual storage, found a "W* shaped error distribution over positions, their experiment was replicated, using as stimuli arrays of one row of eight letters, each followed by an indicator delayed from 0 to 3,200 msec informing S which of the eight letters to report. Further, on half of the 2,560 trials, parentheses were drawn around the array to simulate an equivalent amount of metacontrast for the end letters as for all of the others. The “W” shape was replicated with and without parentheses, although adding parentheses substantially reduced the accuracy of Positions 1 and 8, leaving the others virtually unaffected. No interaction was found between delay and position, nor did any change in the properties of visual or auditory confusion among the errors occur over positions, delays, or parentheses. The results all suggest that the “W” function is due strictly to better acuity for the middle items near fixation and less metacontrast for the end items. No hint was found that the pattern of errors might be due to processes related to encoding or to memory-maintenance variables.
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References
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This research was partially supported by grants from the United States Public Health Service (MH 10753) and from the National Science Foundation (GB 2909, GB 5910, and GB 4547) to the first author. We would like to thank Barbara Herr and Linda Sue Nathanson for collection of most of the data.
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Haber, R.N., Standing, L. Location of errors with a post-stimulus indicator. Psychon Sci 17, 345–346 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335273
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335273