Sentence context effects in three memory tasks.
Item
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Title
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Sentence context effects in three memory tasks.
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Identifier
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AAI9218235
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identifier
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9218235
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Creator
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Gallub, John Richard.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Wilma A. Winnick
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Behavioral | Psychology, Experimental | Language, Linguistics
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Abstract
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Three experiments investigated semantic context effects in three memory tasks with special emphasis on implicit memory. Selection of the three contextual arrangements and the three memory tasks made possible comparisons and cross-comparisons of the cognitive processing at study and test phases of each memory task. Unlike previous research, Experiments 1 and 2 presented target words in concise, declarative sentences. In contrast to this, Experiment 3 substantially increased the amount of material presented at the study phase. Experiment 3 also examined the effects of context on explicit memory (free recall) in this experimental setting. Finally, effects of differential manipulation of study material were addressed by comparing nonsense target words that were either crossed out or not crossed out. Experiments were set in the framework of the component processing view. Results indicate that while all three contexts (alone, nonsense, sensible) produced significant priming, there were no differential effects among the three conditions. This was true for both a data-driven word stem completion task (Experiment 1) and a category response task (Experiment 2). These results are contrary to a component processing view which would predict significantly less priming for the sensible condition in Experiment 1 and significantly greater priming for this condition in Experiment 2. It is proposed that the increased verbal material that accompanied the sensible condition in previous experiments was responsible for a reduction in priming for the sensible condition relative to other conditions. This was supported by a decrease in priming for the sensible condition once the amount of material to be processed at study phase was substantially increased (Experiment 3). This finding is now similar to previous experiments that also presented target words from the sensible condition within lengthy verbal material. The finding that implicit memory is not affected by semantic context is inconsistent with the processing view. However, it is consistent with other experimental manipulations such as elaboration and generation effects which are found to enhance explicit but not implicit memory. Additional results found parallel effects when comparing word-stem completion/free recall tests. Also, the act of crossing out an incongruous target word in a sentence did not increase performance on either the word-stem completion or free recall tasks.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
