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Implicit memory in the auditory modality: The search for an auditory word form system Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Church, Barbara Ann, 1966- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 28/09/2021 18:53:20 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/292030 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 1843805 Implicit memory in the auditory modality: The search for an auditory word form system Church, Barbara Ann, M.A. The University of Arizona, 1991 UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 IMPLICIT MEMORY IN THE AUDITORY MODALITY: THE SEARCH FOR AN AUDITORY WORD FORM SYSTEM by Barbara Ann Church A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 9 1 2 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This thesis has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under the rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this thesis are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgement the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: APPROVAL BY THESIS DIRECTOR Thi iroved on the date shown below: D. L. scnacter Professor of Psychology 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Title Page List of Illustrations 4 List of Tables 5 Abstract 6 Introduction V EXPERIMENT 1 Rationale 19 Method 2 0 Results 23 Discussion 31 EXPERIMENT 2 Method 3 5 Results 36 General Discussion 41 APPENDICES Appendix A: Instructions A Experiment 1 47 Appendix B: Instructions B Experiment 1 49 Appendix C: Instructions A Experiment 2 50 Appendix D: Instructions B Experiment 2 52 Appendix E: Word Lists 53 References 55 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES PAGE # Figure 1. The interaction between encoding task and test type in Experiment 1 28 Figure 2. The interaction between encoding task and test type in Experiment 2 41 5 LIST OF TABLES TABLES PAGE # Table 1. Mean proportion of same and different voice and primed and unprimed items in Experiment 1 25 Table 2. Mean proportion of same and different voice items and hits and false alarms on the recognition test in Experiment 1 26 Table 3. Mean proportion of primed or recognized items minus unprimed items of false alarms as a function of encoding task and testing condition in Experiment 1 27 Table 4. Mean proportion of same and different voice and primed and unprimed items in Experiment 2 37 Table 5. Mean proportion of same and different voice items and hits and false alarms on the recognition test in Experiment 2 38 Table 6. Mean proportion of primed or recognized items minus unprimed items or false alarms as a function of encoding task and testing condition in Experiment 2 39 6 Abstract Two experiments were conducted to explore implicit memory within the auditory modality. It was hypothesized that there would be significant auditory priming in a masked word discrimination task. It was also hypothesized that subjects who performed an elaborative encoding task would show little or no advantage in the priming test when compared to subjects who performed a structural encoding task, but they would perform significantly better on a recognition test. It was also hypothesized that, with an appropriate encoding task, subjects would show a sensitivity to voice changes in the priming test. The results indicated significant auditory priming, and elaborative encoding had a greater effect on recognition performance than priming. No sensitivity to voice change was found. The findings are interpreted as support for the theory that auditory priming is mediated by a perceptual representation system. 7 Implicit Memory in the Auditory Modality: The Search for an Auditory Word Form System Until recently, the term memory has been used to describe an individual's ability to consciously retrieve previously learned information. Research examining human memory used recall or recognition as its dependent measure. These standard tests are explicit memory tests. They measure the subject's ability to intentionally retrieve previously studied information. However, recently, memory researchers have begun to extensively study implicit memory for previously learned information (Schacter,1987). Implicit memory refers to memory for previously studied information that does not require intentional or conscious retrieval of the information. Implicit memory is revealed by a subject's enhanced performance on a task that relies on a prior study episode when the subject is not intentionally trying to retrieve the information from that study episode. For example, Graf and Mandler (1984) showed that subjects were much more likely to complete word stems with the correct target word when they had had exposure to the target word in a previous learning condition than when they had not. Many other tasks besides stem completion have been used to study implicit memory, including the identification of words and pictures, (e.g.,Jacoby & Dallas, 1981; Light & 8 Singh, 1987) lexical decision tasks, (e.g., Scarborough, Gerard, & Cortese, 1979), and object decision tasks (e.g. Schacter, Cooper & Delaney, 1990). Research comparing implicit and explicit task performance has found three primary dissociations between implicit and explicit memory tasks: 1) differences in the effects of encoding manipulations, 2) differences in modality specificity, and 3) differences in the performance of certain groups of neurologically damaged patients. The finding that implicit and explicit memory can be dissociated has generated a great deal of theoretical interest. The first dissociation between implicit and explicit tasks, the effect of the type of encoding task used in the study condition, is particularly striking. Explicit memory tests are strongly affected by the type of encoding task in which the subjects engaged. Craik & Tulving (1975) showed that subjects' performance on a recognition task was higher when they focused their attention on the word's meaning than when they focused their attention on the surface features of the word. Recent studies of implicit memory have shown that in many cases, unlike explicit memory, type of encoding does not affect performance (e.g., Jacoby & Dallas, 1981; Schacter & Graf, 1986; Roediger & Blaxton, 1987; Schacter & McGlynn, 1989). 9 The second important dissociation is provided by the finding that implicit memory tasks are effected by modality shifts to a much greater degree than are explicit memory tasks. Several studies have shown that shifting to a visual test after an auditory study condition reduces or eliminates implicit memory effects but has little or no effect on explicit performance (Schacter & Graf, 1989; Jacoby & Dallas,1981; Roediger & Blaxton, 1987). This dissociation is also present when subjects are given a visual study condition and a auditory implicit memory test (Jackson & Morton, 1984; Bassili, Smith, & MacLeod, 1989). The third dissociation has been provided by neuropsychological studies of organic amnesia. Although amnesic patients' performance on explicit memory tasks is severely impaired, they show normal or near normal performance on many implicit memory tasks (e.g., Shimamura & Squire, 1984; Graf, Squire, & Mandler, 1984). The dissociations found between implicit and explicit memory tasks have sparked a heated theoretical debate about whether