The intricacy of memory span
- 1 September 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Memory & Cognition
- Vol. 5 (5) , 529-534
- https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03197396
Abstract
The effects of word frequency on memory span were explored in human using the up-and-down method. Mean spans were greatest when the sequences were of all high-frequency words (5.82), and smallest when they were of all low-frequency words (4.24). For mixed-frequency sequences, mean spans were greater when the high-frequency words were presented before the low-frequency words (5.19) than when the low-frequency words came first (4.65). The primary-secondary memory distinction worked out for single-trial free recall was discussed, and the logic of this distinction argued against attributing span performance to a simple unitary process.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
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