The effect of modality shifts on proactive interference in long-term memory

Two experiments examined the effects of shifts in the modality on proactive interference in long-term memory. In Experiment 1 subjects learned a 40-word list presented in one of two forms of auditory/visual change—blocked or random. In the blocked conditions, learners were presented half the words in one modality followed by the remaining 20 words in the other modality. Subjects in random conditions also received 20 nouns in each modality, but the presentation was random. Following a delay, all subjects completed an 80-item recognition test. Analysis of these data showed a definite effect (p < .001) for the random change in modality when compared to the blocked presentation. As predicted, distinct reduction in serial position effects was found with the modality of presentation was random. In contrast, the blocked presentation produced two well-defined serial position curves. In Experiment 2 the effects of a shift in the modality of presentation on proactive interference were studied with high and low conceptual rigid subjects. Four similar prose passages were presented with a modality shift taking place in the last passage in a shift condition. Subjects in nonshift conditions were presented the passages exclusively in either the auditory or visual mode. The results showed that a shift in the modality of presentation of a prose passage provided a powerful releaser from proactive interference. The superior performance of rigid thinkers regardless of experimental group membership was explained in terms of organizational memory strategies.     

Memory characteristics and modality in multimedia learning: An aptitude–treatment–interaction study

According to the modality effect in multimedia, a text accompanying a picture should be auditorily presented instead of visually in order to avoid split of attention. In two experimental studies (34 and 78 participants, respectively), the impact and possible compensatory effects of two aptitude variables, that is, memory strategy skills and working memory capacity, on multimedia learning were tested. Aptitude–treatment–interaction effects were found with respect to comprehension (Study 1) and transfer (Study 2). The modality effect was confirmed for less-skilled learners in memory strategy use but not for highly skilled ones. Memory strategy skills and working memory capacity differentially affected multimedia learning, depending on task features and demands.     

Recognition memory for lists of visual stimuli in monkeys and humans

In Experiment 1, short-term memory for lists of visual stimuli was studied in four squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus). A delayed-matching procedure was used in which a subject was presented with lists containing one, three, or six stimulus patterns, and memory for serial positions was probed by requiring the subject to choose between a list item and a nonlist item. The rate of item presentation was varied, as was the delay between the final item on a list and the retention test. In Experiment 2, the same procedures were used to compare recognition memory in four monkeys and four humans. Although differences in the levels and shapes of the serial-position curves appeared between species, both monkeys and humans showed primacy and recency effects. The presentation time of stimuli had a negligible effect on performance in both monkeys and humans, whereas delay significantly affected human retention but not monkey retention.     

The Role of Auditory and Visual Speech in Word Learning at 18 Months and in Adulthood

Visual information influences speech perception in both infants and adults. It is still unknown whether lexical representations are multisensory. To address this question, we exposed 18‐month‐old infants (n = 32) and adults (n = 32) to new word–object pairings: Participants either heard the acoustic form of the words or saw the talking face in silence. They were then tested on recognition in the same or the other modality. Both 18‐month‐old infants and adults learned the lexical mappings when the words were presented auditorily and recognized the mapping at test when the word was presented in either modality, but only adults learned new words in a visual‐only presentation. These results suggest developmental changes in the sensory format of lexical representations.     

Control of conditional discrimination performance by CS-evoked event representations

The ability of visual CSs previously paired with flavored substances to substitute for those substances as conditional discriminative cues was examined in two Pavlovian appetitive conditioning experiments using rat subjects. In Experiment 1, a visual stimulus was first paired with the delivery of a sucrose solution. Then the rats were trained in conditional discrimination tasks in which sucrose delivery alone served as a conditional cue signaling whether or not a subsequent tone would be reinforced with food pellets. Subjects rapidly acquired discriminative performance to the tones, especially in a feature-negative condition in which sucrose delivery signaled when the tone would not be reinforced. In a subsequent test in which neither food nor sucrose was delivered, presentation of the visual CS also controlled discriminative performance to subsequently presented tones. Experiment 2 showed the ability of a visual CS to substitute for a flavored substance as a conditional cue to be highly stimulus specific. Experiment 2 also showed that a flavored substance was less effective as a conditional cue when it was made to be expected by preceding it with a previously associated visual signal than when it was made to be surprising by preceding it with a visual stimulus signaling another flavored liquid. These results indicate that CS-evoked representations of events can substitute for those events themselves in the control of previously established conditional discrimination performance.     

外语自主学习模式中词汇随机性测试系统的开发与应用

文章探索了用微软office工具Excel实现外语词汇随机性测试的方法,提出的词汇随机测试模型包括测试词语抽取随机性和受试学生选择随机性两个维度。提出的周期性随机测试模型遵循人类大脑记忆原则,符合大脑的记忆遗忘规律,可以用作外语自主学习模式中学生形成性评价的一个重要工具。     

Postevent cues bias recognition performance in pigeons

In the present study, we examined whether the presentation of postevent cues would bias recognition in a visual delayed matching-to-sample task with pigeons. Postevent cues were either consistent with the original target stimulus (i.e., they were the same as the correct choice option at recognition), inconsistent (i.e., they were the same as the incorrect recognition option), or neutral (i.e., they were different from both the correct and the incorrect recognition options). In Experiment 1, a single colored light served as the target stimulus. In Experiment 2, the target stimulus was one of three lights presented in a sequence. Both experiments demonstrated that recognition choices were biased toward the option corresponding to the postevent cue, but only if the cue occurred at the end of the delay interval. The present results mirror those found using the misinformation paradigm with human subjects.     

A closer look at split visual attention in system- and self-paced instruction in multimedia learning

Two experiments examined visual attention distribution in learning from text and pictures. Participants watched a 16-step multimedia instruction on the formation of lightning. In Experiment 1 (N = 90) the instruction was system-paced (fast, medium, slow pace), while it was self-paced in Experiment 2 (N = 31). In both experiments the text modality was varied (written, spoken). During learning, the participants’ eye movements were recorded. Results from both experiments revealed that learners spent more time studying the visualizations with spoken text than those with written text. In written text conditions learners consistently started reading before alternating between text and visualization; moreover, they spent more time reading the text than inspecting the visualizations. While in Experiment 1 additional time that was made available in conditions with a slow or medium instruction pace was spent inspecting visualizations, in Experiment 2 longer learning times resulted from reading the text more intensively. With respect to learning outcomes (retention, transfer, and visual memory) Experiment 1 revealed an effect of text modality for visual memory only. In Experiment 2 no modality effects were found. Instruction pace was hardly related to learning outcomes. Overall, the results confirm prior findings suggesting that the distribution of visual attention in multimedia learning is largely guided by the text.     

Adult word recognition and visual sequential memory

Two experiments were conducted investigating the role of visual sequential memory skill in the word recognition efficiency of undergraduate university students. Word recognition was assessed in a lexical decision task using regularly and strangely spelt words, and nonwords that were either standard orthographically legal strings or items made from words with internal transposed letters. Symbol memory was evaluated in a recognition procedure in which sequences of three to five unfamiliar complex symbols were presented, each followed by a subsequent array containing the symbols either in the same order or with an order transposition. In Experiment 1, there was no independent contribution of symbol memory to either word or nonword processing independently of the ability to discriminate the symbols from one another. In Experiment 2, although symbol memory made a significant contribution to word recognition independently of symbol discrimination and letter identification for two conditions??long strangely spelt words and short transposed-letter items, the effects were extremely small. It was concluded that non-verbal visual sequential memory skill does not play a central role in underpinning efficiency of word recognition in experienced adult readers.     

Stimulus preexposure speeds or slows subsequent acquisition of associative learning depending on learning test procedures and response measure

Prior exposure to a conditioned stimulus (CS) typically results in latent inhibition—slower acquisition of associative learning about that stimulus in subsequent training. Here, we found that CS preexposure had different effects on the appetitive conditioning of rats with a sucrose unconditioned stimulus (US) depending on training test procedures, the similarity of preexposure and training procedures, and the choice of response measure. Preexposure to a visual or an auditory stimulus produced facilitation of acquisition of food-cup-directed responding when both of those cues were (separately) paired with sucrose delivery in the training test (Experiments 1 and 3). By contrast, the same preexposure procedure resulted in latent inhibition of food-cup learning if the second stimulus in the test phase was of the same modality as the preexposed stimulus (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, latent inhibition was enhanced if both phases included a single CS or both phases included both auditory and visual CSs, compared to treatments in which only one CS was presented in one phase but two CSs were presented in the other phase. In Experiment 4, preexposure of an auditory cue slowed subsequent learning about it if the context was salient but enhanced learning if the context was of weaker salience. Finally, a measure of general activity revealed latent inhibition after preexposure in all conditions in all 4 experiments. We discuss the results within several classes of latent inhibition theories, none of which provides a comprehensive account.     

Intrinsic reinforcing properties of putatively neutral stimuli in an instrumental two-lever discrimination task

Four experiments examined the influence of a stimulus presented after one response in a two-lever choice task. In Experiment 1, food-deprived rats trained on a concurrent variable-interval extinction schedule responded more often on the extinction lever when such responding periodically produced a visual stimulus than when it did not. In Experiments 2 and 3, a similar signal-induced enhancement effect was found even when food was delivered randomly with respect to responding on both levers or when no food was presented. In Experiment 4, a response-contingent visual stimulus elevated responding to the lever on which it was presented, but an auditory cue suppressed responding. These findings indicate that visual stimuli may possess intrinsically reinforcing properties for rats.     

Eye movement behaviour during reading of Japanese sentences: Effects of word length and visual complexity

Two experiments are presented that examine how the visual characteristics of Japanese words influence eye movement behaviour during reading. In Experiment 1, reading behaviour was compared for words comprising either one or two kanji characters. The one-character words were significantly less likely to be fixated on first-pass, and had significantly longer overall reading times, than the two-character words. In Experiment 2, reading behaviour was compared for two-kanji character words, for which the first character was either visually simple or visually complex (determined by the number of strokes). Visual complexity significantly influenced total word reading times and the probability of the individual visually simple/complex characters being fixated on first pass. Additional analyses showed no preferred viewing position for two-kanji character words. Overall, the study provides experimental evidence of an influence of specific visual characteristics of Japanese words on eye movement behaviour during reading, as shown by both fixation probabilities and reading times. The findings must be explained by processing at (or beyond) a visual level impacting on eye movement behavior during reading of Japanese text.     

Blocking of the sexual conditioning of differentially effective conditioned stimulus objects

The blocking phenomenon was investigated in the sexual response system of male Japanese quail. Access to a live female quail served as the unconditioned stimulus (US). The same audiovisual cue served as the pretrained stimulus in all of the experiments. Following asymptotic conditioning of the audiovisual cue, a second conditioned stimulus (CS2) was added. In Experiment 1, CS2 was a rectangular wood block that had little or no resemblance to a female quail and could not support copulatory behavior. In Experiment 2, CS2 was a terrycloth object that had no quail parts but could support copulatory behavior, and, in Experiment 3, CS2 was a terrycloth object that had a taxidermically prepared head of a female quail added. The terrycloth-only object supported more rapid conditioning than did the wood block, but the blocking effect was obtained with both kinds of stimuli. Approach responding to the terrycloth + head object required pairing it with copulatory opportunity, and the terrycloth + head object supported at least as rapid conditioning as did the terrycloth-only object. However, responding to the terrycloth + head object was not blocked by the pretrained audiovisual cue. These results indicate that the blocking effect occurs in sexual conditioning even with stimulus objects that can support copulation. However, the addition of species-typical head cues to an object makes that object such a powerful stimulus that conditioned approach responding to it cannot be blocked by a previously conditioned arbitrary audiovisual cue.     

CS-US temporal relations in blocking

In four trace-conditioning experiments with rats, the influence on the blocking of differences between the blocking cue-unconditioned stimulus (US) and the blocked cue-US trace intervals was explored. Experiment 1 demonstrated blocking despite the blocked cue’s having a shorter trace interval than the blocking cue in both elemental (Phase 1) and compound (Phase 2) training. In Experiment 2, blocking was attenuated when the blocked cue had a longer trace interval than did the blocking cue in both elemental and compound training. In Experiments 3 and 4, the trace intervals of the two cues during compound training were matched (i.e., unlike in Experiments 1 and 2, neither had temporal priority). Blocking was attenuated when the blocking cue trace interval in the elemental phase was shorter (Experiment 3) or longer (Experiment 4) than the compound cue trace during compound training. The findings indicate that subjects encode interstimulus intervals, and they further suggest that cue competition is greatest when the competing cues have the same temporal information as the US.     

Infants' cross-modal transfer from solid objects to their graphic representations

12-month-old infants were familiarized either tactually or visually with objects and then tested for visual recognition memory using either (1) the familiar and a novel object, (2) colored pictures of the objects, or (3) outline drawings of them. In Study 1, infants showed recognition memory on all 3 visual intramodal problems but showed cross-modal transfer only when objects were used as test stimuli. With increased familiarization times in Study 2, transfer from tactually presented samples to both pictorial displays was achieved, indicating that after feeling an object the infants were able to recognize it visually solely on the basis of its contour. With reduced familiarization times in Study 3, there was no evidence for transfer from visually presented samples to the 2 pictorial displays, replicating the pattern of results observed cross-modally in Study 1 and suggesting that, at least in certain respects, cross-modal and intramodal perception follow similar principles.     

Altering the Modality of Instructions to Facilitate Imagination: Interactions between the Modality and Imagination Effects

Under some conditions, learning is improved by using a dual mode presentation involving for example, visual diagrams and auditory, rather than written text (modality effect). Under other conditions, learning is improved by asking learners to imagine rather than study instructional material (imagination effect). Both effects have been explained using cognitive load theory. This paper investigates interactions between the modality and imagination effects. It was hypothesized that the imagination effect would be facilitated when accompanied by audio/visual instructions compared to visual only instructions. Experiment 1 provided evidence to suggest that for the materials used, audio/visual instructions were required to obtain an imagination effect. Experiment 2 through verbal protocols aimed to investigate the cognitive mechanisms required when studying and imagining and found that learners who studied tended to engage in search while learners who imagined focused on entities and relations that needed to be learned. in final form: 8 December 2005     

Focus of attention and choice of text modality in multimedia learning

The term ‘modality effect’ in multimedia learning means that students learn better from pictures combined with spoken rather than written text. The most prominent explanations refer to the split attention between visual text reading and picture observation which could affect transfer of information into working memory, maintenance of information in working memory or the effective size of working memory. The assumption of a continuous need for split attention is questionable, however. Learners can keep pictorial information in working memory, when they have seen the picture before, especially if they have higher prior knowledge. Instead of suffering from a permanent split attention, learners frequently show tendencies to simply ignore pictures. This suggests guiding learners towards picture analysis by picture-related text paragraphs. We assume that these paragraphs are associated with stronger modality effects than content-related paragraphs, especially if the pictures are new to learners. These assumptions were tested in an experiment with 120 students learning about volcanism from illustrated text consisting of segments each including a content-related paragraph followed by a picture-related paragraph describing the accompanying visualization. Content-related and picture-related paragraphs were presented as visual or auditory texts leading to 2x2 conditions of text presentation. Picture novelty was manipulated by presenting a picture throughout the whole segment or only when the picture-related paragraph was read. As expected, picture-related paragraphs were associated with stronger modality effects than content-related paragraphs if picture novelty is high. The distinction between different kinds of paragraphs seems to be important for the prediction of modality effects.     

Similarities between human and animal spatial memory: Item and order information

Human subjects, sitting at the center of a circle of eight lights, were tested on analogues of radial-maze item-recognition (Roberts & Smythe, 1979) and order-recognition (Kesner & Novak, 1982) tasks. Subjects in the item-recognition condition saw a list of seven lights, and then the nonlist (eighth) light was tested against the first, fourth, or seventh light from the list. The subjects were required to point toward the nonlist light. Subjects in the order-recognition condition saw a series of eight lights, followed by a test of the first and second, fourth and fifth, or seventh and eighth serial positions. They were asked to point toward the light with the earlier serial position. Subjects’ item-recognition serial-position curves exhibited a recency effect with a 0-sec retention interval (Experiments 1 and 2), and were U-shaped (Experiment 1) or flat (Experiment 2) with a 30-sec retention interval. Subjects’ order-recognition serial-position curves were U-shaped at both retention intervals. Subjects’ reported mnemonics were, generally, unrelated to their choice accuracy. The results suggest analogous memory processes in animals and humans.     

Dissociations between serial position and number of letters effects in lateralised visual word recognition

Some previous studies of visual word recognition have reported an interaction between visual field and word length (measured by number of letters), such that recognition is affected more by word length for words presented in the left than for words presented in the right visual field. However, when manipulating serial position of letters in words to measure length effects, there are also reports of symmetrical word length effects in the two visual fields. Here we report two experiments, presenting four‐ and seven‐letter words, suggesting that the serial position and length effects in the hemispheres are separable and task dependent. For tasks that rely more heavily on letter‐level processing such as letter search (Experiment 1), performance in both hemifields showed similar effects of serial position; however, when comparing four‐ and seven‐letter words, an effect of word length was evident only in the left visual field, in line with the well‐established interaction between word length and hemifield. An interaction between word length and hemifield was confirmed for the same stimuli when they were employed in a lexical decision task, which forced whole‐word processing (Experiment 2). We conclude that the effects of serial position and number of letters in the two visual fields are separable, and are selectively affected by task type.     

Cognitive load theory and the effects of transient information on the modality effect

Based on cognitive load theory and the transient information effect, this paper investigated the modality effect while interpreting a contour map. The length and complexity of auditory and visual text instructions were manipulated. Experiment 1 indicated that longer audio text information within a presentation was inferior to the equivalent longer visual text information demonstrating a reversal of the modality effect due to transient information imposing a heavy working memory load. However, the expected modality effect was not obtained from the equivalent shorter auditory text presentation compared to shorter visual text information. It was hypothesised that the shorter text still contained too much auditory information for working memory to readily process. Experiment 2 further decreased the shorter auditory text information which then resulted in a traditional modality effect including a modality by text length interaction in which shorter, audio-visual information was better than visual only information but longer, audio-visual information was worse than visual only information.