Abstract
Each of 90 Ss was given five successive short-term memory (STM) tests with a triad of country names as the memory material on each test. Recall performance deteriorated across the series of STM tests. Immediately subsequent to the tests, each S was given a recognition test consisting of the 15 country names presented in the STM test series and 30 “new” country names. Each S was required to indicate whether a word was “old” or “new” and to give a confidence rating of his judgment. Operating characteristics for each of the five STM tests were computed for recalled and nonrecalled words. The data suggest that decline in recall performance across a series of STM tests (proactive interference) is due to several factors: an increasing inability to discriminate among items in storage and an increasing failure of items to gain access to storage or to stay in storage.
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This research was supported in part by Grants 102 and 114 from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation to the first and second authors, respectively. The authors would like to thank Mrs. Edie Sullivan for a careful job of data collection.
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Turvey, M.T., Mosher, D.L. & Katz, L. Subsequent recognition of items subjected to proactive interference in short-term memory. Psychon Sci 25, 365–367 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335908
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335908