List length and word frequency effects in the Sternberg paradigm
Allison Chapman · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network) · 2012
There is building evidence in long-term recognition memory paradigms documenting a null list length effect (LLE) in which performance is not improved for items studied in shorter lists compared with items from longer lists.The global-matching mechanism implemented in many recognition memory models predicts that the LLE is a direct consequence of item noise.In these models, item noise is also assumed to drive the wordfrequency effect (WFE) -a recognition advantage for words that occur with low frequency in English compared to words that occur with high frequency.The current experiments modified a short-term recognition memory task (the Sternberg paradigm) to include an extended and/or filled delay between study and test lists, and manipulated word frequency.Results demonstrated a null LLE when the design included both a longer study-test lag and a distracter task.Frequency effects emerged only when there was an unfilled delay and a distracter task separating the study-test cycles.These results suggest that item interference is not implicated in short-term recognition memory for words, and contextual reinstatement must be sufficiently noisy to demonstrate the low frequency word advantage.BCDMEM is able to succinctly capture the range of findings that seem to provide evidence against distinct short-term-and long-term-memory systems.