Memory for algebra story problems.

In 2 experiments, 48 undergraduates were tested for the recall of different aspects of algebra story problems. In a 3rd experiment, 36 undergraduates constructed standard algebra story problems. Propositions about relations among variables were harder to remember than propositions that assigned a value to a variable, and Ss were far more likely to convert a relation into an assignment than vice versa. Recall was better for schema-relevant than schema-irrelevant information and for common problem types than uncommon ones, and Ss tended to convert uncommon problem types into common types and to construct common rather than uncommon problem types. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory span: Sources of individual and developmental differences.

Examines 10 possible sources of individual and developmental differences in memory span (rehearsal, grouping, chunking, retrieval strategies, item identification, item ordering, capacity, susceptibility to interference, search rate, and the output buffer) by drawing on existing research. Considerable evidence suggests that the speed with which presented items can be identified is a major source of both individual and developmental differences in span. By contrast, there is no conclusive evidence that the other possibilities examined, including those traditionally associated with span differences (rehearsal, grouping, chunking, and overall information-processing capacity), contribute to variations in span. Speed of item identification differences is discussed in terms of processing efficiency or the capacity needed to activate appropriate perceptual/cognitive units and linguistic programs. (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in cross-sectional and 3-year longitudinal memory performance across the adult life span.

Reports individual differences analyses of performance on list and prose memory tasks for 250 men and 258 women (aged 55–84 yrs). Being retested, higher reasoning and vocabulary scores, and female gender predicted better prose recall and list recognition performance. For list recall, retest status, age, years of schooling, and gender, as well as reasoning and vocabulary, were reliable independent predictors. After 3 yrs, 106 men and 121 women returned for a retest. Analysis of individual differences in 3-yr performance indicated that, once Time 1 performance had been partialed, individual change could be predicted by age or reasoning, but neither variable uniquely accounted for change. Analysis of data of individuals who experienced considerable decline or improvement in 3-yr scores indicated that decline was consistently associated with advanced age. Ramifications for theoretical models in memory research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory and complex cognition.

The relations among assessments of working memory (WM) and a range of complex cognitive abilities were examined. In 2 experiments participants completed 2 WM tasks designed to assess verbal and nonverbal WM, as well as assessments of verbal intelligence, nonverbal intelligence, and academic achievement. Verbal WM had no relationship with nonverbal intelligence, whereas nonverbal WM had no relationship with verbal intelligence and academic achievement. A reanalysis of P. C. Kyllonen & R. E. Christal (see PA, Vol 78:32248; Experiment 1) is reported in which multiple indicators of WM were used to identify verbal and nonverbal WM factors; both of these WM factors were heavily saturated with a second-order factor, g (61% and 69%, respectively). Convergent and discriminant validation of the multidimensionality of WM was found in the patterns of correlations among the first-order Working Memory, General Knowledge, and Speed factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in 16-year memory changes.

The authors analyzed the role of individual differences in age, gender, and 16-year declines in reasoning and vocabulary as predictors of 16-year changes in text and list recall and recognition in 82 adults aged 55–81 years at baseline. Declines in reasoning as well as being older at baseline predicted declines in text recall. Male gender and declining in vocabulary predicted declines in list recall. There were no reliable predictors of declines in recognition. The findings suggest that changes in abilities, as well as age and gender, predict declines on memory tasks. However, the specific predictors varied across tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in the perception of women's faces.

It was shown that membership in age or sex categories affects the way in which an individual perceives a woman when presented with her photograph. It is contended that this is a demonstration of the influence of culturally defined roles upon perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social roles and social perception: Individual differences in attribution and error.

In a replication of the social roles experiment by Ross, Amabile, and Steinmetz (1977), 103 male and female 14-year-olds viewed a brief videotape that showed a randomly assigned "questioner" asking general knowledge questions of a "contestant," who answered most of them incorrectly. Subjects subsequently manifested the role-based attribution error of attributing significantly more knowledge and ability to the arbitrarily designated questioner than to the arbitrarily designated contestant, and this effect was stronger among girls than boys. Personality data were available on the subjects for when they were in nursery school and again at age 14 in the form of independent Q-sort ratings. Personality correlates of the role effect were stronger among boys but manifested a basically similar pattern among girls and suggested that those most prone to make this attribution error, far from being disadvantaged in social judgment, tended to be more socially engaged and competent as well as emotionally well adjusted. The role effect was also positively associated with self-esteem. Personality correlates of attributional generosity and the tendency to attribute high ability to stimulus persons were associated with generally positive interpersonal qualities and attitudes. Results were interpreted in terms of usually appropriate heuristic social competencies that, in special circumstances, may sometimes underlie attribution errors. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory capacity and categorization: Individual differences and modeling.

Working memory is crucial for many higher-level cognitive functions, ranging from mental arithmetic to reasoning and problem solving. Likewise, the ability to learn and categorize novel concepts forms an indispensable part of human cognition. However, very little is known about the relationship between working memory and categorization, and modeling in category learning has thus far been largely uninformed by knowledge about people's memory processes. This article reports a large study (N = 113) that related people's working memory capacity (WMC) to their category-learning performance using the 6 problem types of Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961). Structural equation modeling revealed a strong relationship between WMC and category learning, with a single latent variable accommodating performance on all 6 problems. A model of categorization (the Attention Learning COVEring map, ALCOVE; Kruschke, 1992) was fit to the individual data and a single latent variable was sufficient to capture the variation among associative learning parameters across all problems. The data and modeling suggest that working memory mediates category learning across a broad range of tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in misremembering pre-psychotherapy distress: Personality and memory distortion.

In 2 studies, clients were asked, after terminating psychotherapy, to complete a measure of symptomatic distress exactly as they had in their pre-therapy assessment. Most clients overestimated their pre-therapy distress, which may lead to an illusion of positive change. A 3rd study found no overestimation of previously reported distress in a control sample. The degree of overestimation for psychotherapy clients was positively correlated with anxiety, depression, and neuroticism, and negatively correlated with ego strength, self-deception, and lying. Distress levels at termination mediated these effects of individual differences. Individual differences were also correlated with specific types of recall error, such as adding to, exaggerating, omitting, and minimizing previously reported symptoms. Misremembering prior emotions may both reflect and create individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in children's mathematics achievement: Solving computations and story problems.

Examined the performance of 144,462 male and 142,305 female California 6th-graders (aged 135–261 mo) on 2 types of mathematics items: computations and story problems. Data represent Ss' responses to the Survey of Basic Skills, Grade 6, of the California Assessment Program. Results indicate that girls were more likely than boys to solve computations successfully, whereas boys were more likely than girls to be successful with story problems. Sex is shown to be a significant factor in predicting student success. Problem-solving success for the 2 types of items is also examined in relation to reading achievement, SES, primary language, and age. It was found that girls had higher measured reading achievement than boys; however, girls who achieved higher scores in reading were nonetheless relatively weaker in solving story problems than both other girls and boys. Little or no interaction was found between SES or language and sex. Age was not found to be a factor that contributes to sex differences in performance. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in reaction to meprobamate: A study in visual perception.

An investigation of the effect of meprobamate upon reactions to Necker Cube, Retinal Rivalry, Archimedes Spiral, and Peripheral Span on 68 college-age males, divided equally between drug and placebo conditions by the doubleblind method. No significant relationship appeared between the Maudsley Personality Inventory Extraversion scale and the test scores, nor between the tests themselves, with exception of cube and rivalry (r = + .35, p     

Similarities and differences between working memory and long-term memory: Evidence from the levels-of-processing span task.

Two experiments compared the effects of depth of processing on working memory (WM) and long-term memory (LTM) using a levels-of-processing (LOP) span task, a newly developed WM span procedure that involves processing to-be-remembered words based on their visual, phonological, or semantic characteristics. Depth of processing had minimal effect on WM tests, yet subsequent memory for the same items on delayed tests showed the typical benefits of semantic processing. Although the difference in LOP effects demonstrates a dissociation between WM and LTM, we also found that the retrieval practice provided by recalling words on the WM task benefited long-term retention, especially for words initially recalled from supraspan lists. The latter result is consistent with the hypothesis that WM span tasks involve retrieval from secondary memory, but the LOP dissociation suggests the processes engaged by WM and LTM tests may differ. Therefore, similarities and differences between WM and LTM depend on the extent to which retrieval from secondary memory is involved and whether there is a match (or mismatch) between initial processing and subsequent retrieval, consistent with transfer-appropriate-processing theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory: Introduction to the special section.

This special section includes a set of 5 articles that examine the nature of inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory, using working memory span tasks as the main research tools. These span tasks are different from traditional short-term memory spans (e.g., digit or word span) in that they require participants to maintain some target memory items (e.g., words) while simultaneously performing some other tasks (e.g., reading sentences). In this introduction, a brief discussion of these working memory span tasks and their characteristics is provided first. This is followed by an overview of 2 major theoretic issues that are addressed by the subsequent articles—(a) the factors influencing the inter- and intraindividual differences in working memory performance and (b) the domain generality versus domain specificity of working memory—and also of some important issues that must be kept in mind when readers try to evaluate the claims regarding these 2 theoretical issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A capacity theory of comprehension: Individual differences in working memory.

A theory of the way working memory capacity constrains comprehension proposes that both processing and storage are mediated by activation and that the total amount of activation available in working memory varies among individuals. Individual differences in working memory capacity for language can account for qualitative and quantitative differences among college-age adults in several aspects of language comprehension. One aspect is syntactic modularity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits interaction among syntactic and pragmatic information, so that their syntactic processes are not informationally encapsulated. Another aspect is syntactic ambiguity: The larger capacity of some individuals permits them to maintain multiple interpretations. The theory is instantiated as a production system model in which the amount of activation available to the model affects how it adapts to the transient computational and storage demands that occur in comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhanced problem translation and short-term memory: Components of mathematical talent.

The performance of mathematically talented 12- and 13-year-olds on various cognitive tasks was compared with that of average-ability youth, verbally talented youth, and college students. In Experiment 1, the hypothesis that mathematical talent includes enhanced problem-translation skills was supported: The mathematically talented students were better than other groups at writing equations expressing complex relationships. Although the mathematically talented group outperformed their average-ability peers, they were no better than the verbally talented group or the college students in rewriting and recalling the propositions in an algebra story problem. In Experiment 2, the hypothesis that mathematical talent includes enhanced ability to represent and manipulate information in short-term memory was strongly supported: the mathematically talented youth outperformed the other youth and, in most cases, performed as well as or better than the college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict retrieval-induced forgetting.

Selectively retrieving a subset of previously studied information enhances memory for the retrieved information but causes forgetting of related, nonretrieved information. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) has often been attributed to inhibitory executive-control processes that supposedly suppress the nonretrieved items' memory representation. Here, we examined the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in young adults' RIF. WMC was assessed by means of the operation span task. Results revealed a positive relationship between WMC and RIF, with high-WMC individuals showing more RIF than low-WMC individuals. In contrast, individuals showed enhanced memory for retrieved information regardless of WMC. The results are consistent with previous individual-differences work that suggests a close link between WMC and inhibitory efficiency. In particular, the finding supports the inhibitory executive-control account of RIF. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental differences in the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span.

Investigated the effects of acoustic similarity on memory span in 112 children ranging in age from 4 to 10 yrs. Ss were asked to recall lists of acoustically similar and dissimilar words. The lists alternated across trials while growing in length. Acoustic similarity had progressively more effect on recall with increasing age. There was a fairly sudden increase in recall of acoustically similar items by the 10-yr-olds, compared to the 9-yr-olds. The implications of this finding for current theories of short-term memory and its development and for the use of acoustic similarity as an indicator of speech coding are discussed. One possible account of the effects of acoustic similarity on recall is that it depends on the occurrence of confusions during rehearsal. The rate of rehearsal in young children may be too slow for significant numbers of confusions to occur and affect recall. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in working memory and comprehension: A test of four hypotheses.

A relationship has consistently been found between measures of working memory and reading comprehension. Four hypotheses for this relationship were tested in 3 experiments. In the 1st 2 experiments, a moving window procedure was used to present the operation–word and reading span tasks. High- and low-span Ss did not differentially trade off time on the elements of the tasks and the to-be-remembered word. Furthermore, the correlation between span and comprehension was undiminished when the viewing times were partialed out. Exp 3 compared a traditional experimenter-paced simple word-span and an S-paced span in their relationship with comprehension. The experimenter-paced word-span correlated with comprehension, but the S-paced span did not. The results of all 3 experiments support a general capacity explanation for the relationship between working memory and comprehension. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in spatial working memory in relation to schizotypy.

With a delayed-response task, spatial working memory function was assessed in normal students who were selected for schizotypy. The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test was also administered. Twenty-eight undergraduate students who scored high on the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PerAb) and 23 who scored low on this scale participated in this study. High PerAb students performed less accurately compared with the low PerAb controls on the delayed-response task, and they were more than twice as likely as low PerAb students to be impaired. The groups did not differ in the number of perseverative errors or number of categories achieved on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, but, as predicted, high PerAb students were less able to maintain set than were the low PerAb students. Neuropsychological implications of these data are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-sectional and incremental changes in working memory and mathematical problem solving.

Cross-sectional and incremental age effects on cognitive processes that underlie individual differences in components of working memory (WM; phonological loop, visual-spatial sketchpad, executive processing) and mathematical problem-solving accuracy were examined in elementary schoolchildren. A battery of tests was administered that assessed problem solving, achievement, memory, and cognitive processing (inhibition, speed, phonological coding) in children in Grades 1, 2, and 3 (Wave 1) and 1 year later (Wave 2). The results showed that (a) 31% of the explainable within-person changes across testing waves and 42% of the age-related differences in word problem-solving accuracy were related to executive processing and (b) executive processing and reading performance in Year 1 were the only variables that contributed unique variance to Year 2 problem-solving performance. The results support the notion that growth in the executive system is an important predictor of children's problem solving abilities beyond the contribution of reading and calculation skills and that growth in executive processing can operate independently of individual differences in phonological processing, inhibition, and processing speed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)