Abstract: An experiment is reported in which autistic children's memory for recent events was compared with that of normal age-matched and retarded age-and ability-matched controls. The autistic subjects' recall was significantly inferior to that of normal controls. Recent event memory correlated with a language measure in the autistic group and with a nonverbal measure in the retarded control group. These findings are discussed in terms of relationships between language and memory, and possible mechanisms underlying the distinctive pattern of memory ability and disability that occurs in autism.

Abstract: Three experiments examined short-term encoding processes of deaf signers for different aspects of signs from American Sign Language. Experiment 1 compared short-term memory for lists of formationally similar signs with memory for matched lists of random signs. Just as acoustic similarity of words interferes with short-term memory or word sequences, formational similarity of signs had a marked debilitating effect on the ordered recall of sequences of signs. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of the semantic similarity of the signs on short-term memory: Semantic similarity had no significant effect on short-term ordered recall of sequences of signs. Experiment 3 studied the role that the iconic (representational) value of signs played in short-term memory. Iconicity also had no reliable effect on short-term recall. These results provide support for the position that deaf signers code signs from American Sign Language at one level in terms of linguistically significant formational parameters. The semantic and iconic information of signs, however, seems to have little effect on short-term memory.

Abstract: Memory for content, or gist recall, was studied in groups of normal and language-impaired children, matched on age and sex, using a story recall task. The children were pretested for their ability to comprehend individual sentences in the stories. Following a practice session, two test stories were read to each child and oral recall was requested immediately after each story. The content of the recall protocols was analyzed into propositions and scored for accuracy, organization, and temporal ordering. The results showed that the groups differed primarily in the amount of accurate recall, with the language-impaired group recalling considerably less than the normal group. It was concluded that language-impaired children do exhibit deficits in gist recall for material which is within their linguistic grasp.

Abstract: d-Amphetamine injections produce a dose-dependent disruption of performance within a discrete delayed alternation and a spatial delayed matching-to-sample task. Since d-amphetamine in the doses used had no deleterious effects on discrimination performance (no delay condition), it is suggested that d-amphetamine disrupts neuronal activity representing short-term memory. The data provide support for an independence model of short- and long-term memory.

Abstract: Memory span for pictures of common objects and for the names of these objects was examined as a function of three speech-related variables. Both picture span and name span were found to be influenced by the phonological similarity (Experiment 1) and the length (Experiment 2) of the names, as well as by the subject’s engaging in “irrelevant” vocalization during item presentation (Experiment 3). Moreover, for each variable the effect was in the same direction and of comparable magnitude for the two types of items. Experiments 4-6 replicated these findings with the procedure modified such that the retention of order information was not required. It is concluded that under the present conditions, there is a substantial functional equivalence between short-term memory for readily nameable pictures and for words and that this equivalence may be thought of as due to mediation by a common, “speech-like” code.

Abstract: An experiment is reported in which subjects attempted conditional reasoning problems while concurrently articulating a series of digits, with or without memory load. Logical performance was not impaired by the competing tasks and the latency of responding was actually faster under concurrent articulation, without memory load, than in a control group. The results are discussed with reference to the Baddeley and Hitch (1974) model of working memory.

Abstract: Two experiments comparing recall for synthetic and natural lists of monosyllabic words were conducted to determine the locus of previously demonstrated perceptual difficulties for synthetic speech produced by rule [D. B. Pisoni and S. Hunnicutt, ICASSP, 572–575 (1980)]. If the perception of synthetic speech demands increased processing capacity in early encoding stages, recall differences between synthetic and natural speech should arise when short‐term memory is differentially stressed. In the first experiment three presentation rates (1, 2, and 5 s per word) were used to manipulate the demands placed on short‐term memory. Although recall was consistently poorer for the synthetic lists at all presentation rates, the decrement for synthetic stimuli did not increase with faster rates. A similar pattern of results was obtained in the second experiment in which strings of digits of varying length (0, 3, and 6 digits) were presented visually for retention prior to each spoken word list. However, the recall of the digits was considerably worse for the 6‐digit list relative to the 3‐digit list when the following word lists were synthetic. These results indicate that at least some of the difficulties observed in the perception and comprehension of continuous synthetic speech are due to increased processing demands in short‐term memory. [Supported by grants from NIMH and NINCDS.]

Abstract: One series of experiments examined the correlation between memory span and the speed of symbol manipulation in short-term memory, and another experiment analyzed the effects of extended practice on memory span In the first study, most of the estimates of processing speed did not correlate with memory span, and it was concluded that short-term memory capacity is not determined by the speed of symbol manipulation in short term memory In the second study, memory span greatly increased with extended practice, but this increase was due to the acquisition of a mnemonic system Short-term memory capacity was unaffected by practice

Abstract: Summary Two short-term memory probe experiments involving the isolation effect (IE) were each done with two groups of children (5–6 and 9–11 years). Strong evidence was found for the IE. In simultaneously presented lists there was evidence for an overall list facilitation due to isolation, and younger children actually performed better on the isolate. The IE in children was described as a short-term perceptual process which is more active in younger than in older children.

Abstract: This investigation examined the effects of different localizing cues on the precision with which subjects can recall the position of a target in space. The availability of the cues--vision, kinesthesis, or both--was varied during both learning and recall. Subjects (age range 26 to 58 yr.) placed the stimulus or watched it being placed. The stimulus was removed, and subjects replaced or indicated its replacement location. Results show a striking similarity of performance for all subjects and significant performance differences relative to the different cues. The results provide information about intramodal and intermodal visual and kinesthetic transfer effects and about the effects of unimodal and multimodal input in such transfer. Results confirm a dominance of vision over kinesthesis, i.e., "kinesthetic memory" does not provide as accurate localizing information as does "visual memory."

Abstract: Forty-six mildly and moderately retarded institutionalized persons were compared on their ability to recall auditory rhythms under two attentional conditions, when presented alone and when presented with another simultaneous rhythm. Results showed that short-term memory for auditory rhythms varied among these retarded individuals (a) according to IQ, independent of attentional condition and (b) according to attentional condition, independent of IQ.

Abstract: Summary The present study addressed the question, “To what extent does nonstrategic verbal encoding differ in deaf and normally hearing children?” with the use of a probe-type serial memory task, hearing and deaf children matched on chronological age, IQ, and sex were randomly assigned to named, unnamed, or dactylo-kinesthetic (fingerspelled) stimulus pretraining conditions and compared on subsequent serial recall performance. Strong primacy effects were found even though children could not use overt cumulative rehearsal. Analysis of d' scores found no difference between hearing or deaf children on pretrained named instruction; overall inferior recall occurred for deaf children on unnamed condition. Results were interpreted in terms of comparable nonstrategic processes in deaf children that occur prior to the application of mnemonic strategies.

Abstract: : A series of three experiments are reported that examine the spatial and verbal variants of the Sternberg Memory Search Task and their relation to dual task interference. The verbal task employs 25 letters of the alphabet as stimuli, the spatial task, 25 randomly positioned 5-dot matrices. These had been previously employed in investigations by Micalizzi and Wickens (spatial), Wickens and Derrick (verbal), and Wickens and Sandry (both). In experiment 1, the effect of memory set size (1, 2, and 4) on the slope of the Sternberg function of both stimulus types was compared. In experiment 2, a memory search task with each of the two stimulus sets was performed concurrently with a highly verbal task (short term memory of low imagery words) and a hypothesized spatial task (tracking). In experiment 3, the two search tasks were time-shared with a perceptual task in which subjects monitored an autopilot-controlled dynamic system for intermittent failures, (discrete changes in the transfer function).

Abstract: A procedure was developed to enable nonverbal organisms to report what they remember of the temporal organization of their recent behavior. A baseline behavior with known temporal structure was established by a concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule for two temporal patterns of behavior (two different classes of reinforced inter-response times). The five pigeon subjects emitted these two temporal patterns on a center key and were occasionally given a short-term memory probe for their most-recently-emitted pattern. The probes consisted of symbolic delayed matching-to-sample tests, in which a response on a green side key was reinforced if the most recent pattern belonged to the shorter reinforced class, and a response to a red side key was reinforced if the most recent pattern belonged to the longer reinforced class. All subjects could report with over ninety percent accuracy what their most recently emitted behavioral pattern was when a retention interval separating the pattern from the memory probe was only .1 seconds. The retention interval was then manipulated, and it was found that recall for a pattern was frequently above chance after a delay of as much as eight seconds. Thus, pigeons can remember their most recent interresponse time not only right after it is emitted, but for several seconds thereafter. In other conditions, the patterns themselves were manipulated. It was found that as the patterns became more similar, discrimination became poorer. These results agree with the view that reinforcement tends to organize and integrate the local structure of behavior to the extent to which that structure is remembered.