| Abstract: | To report letters from briefly exposed letter arrays, Ss must transfer information from a rapidly decaying trace (iconic memory) to more durable storage. In a partial-report paradigm, the proportion (P) of trials with a long cue delay relative to a short cue delay was systematically varied. Practiced Ss used the same transfer strategy independent of P. Data from a partial-report-plus-masking experiment were used to construct a computational model that accurately predicted partial- and whole-report performance with and without masks. Assumptions: Prior to a cue, Ss attend primarily to the middle row of a 3-row display, resulting in nonselective transfer. After the cue, they attend only to the cued row. Transfer rate is the product of iconic legibility (which depends on the time and retinal location) and attention allocation (which shifts after a cue). Cumulative transfer is limited by the capacity of durable storage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
