Armstrong, Samuel (2016) Coding Order in Verbal Short-term Memory: Are Position and Item Associations Bidirectional? Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
What could be easier than reading a few items, like the digits in a phone number, and remembering them in order a short while later? Despite the simplicity of this serial recall task, it contributes to verbal behaviours such as speech perception, vocabulary acquisition, and language processing. Positional theory assumes that order information is stored and retrieved through an association between an item and its coded position within the sequence. This association has been assumed as unidirectional within the order mechanisms of verbal short-term models. That is, retrieval of an item is dependent on reinstatement of its position code. This simplification is drawn from large scale theoretical testing with serial recall. The aim of this study was to test associations for bidirectional functioning to determine whether position codes can be retrieved. That is, can position codes be retrieved from reinstatement of the item. Participants (N = 81) were randomly assigned to a probed (n = 40) or serial recall (n = 41) condition. The requirement for both conditions was to store and recall order information for verbal sequences of six items. Additional self-report measures of order maintenance strategies were completed post-testing. Contrary to predictions, a bidirectional association between positions and items was not supported. These findings are discussed within the context of the current literature on position coding for short-term verbal order. The implications of these findings present a challenge for some models, particularly those which implement theories of time-based forgetting in order to predict serial recall performance.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Gerry Tehan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Aug 2025 01:01 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Aug 2025 01:01 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | short-term ; verbal memory ; serial recall ; position coding ; unidirectional |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52125 |
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