WHAT’S IN A LIST - SERIAL MEMORY

A course project report submitted in partial

fulfillment of requirement of

FOUNDATIONS OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE

By

R.Gnana Prasanna (2003A51136)

R.Varshith (2003A51138)

T.Rishi Gupta (2005A41131)

S.Laxmi Sree Vindhya (2005A42023)

D.Rakshith (2005A43006)

Under the guidance of

Dr.Rakesh Senguptha

Assistant professor , Department of CCC

1. Introduction 3

2. Methodology 5

3. Results 7

4. Discussion 22

5. References 24

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 1.Introduction
Serial memory processing is the act of attending to and processing one item at a time.

This is usually contrasted against parallel memory processing, which is the act of

attending to and processing all items simultaneously.

In short-term memory tasks, participants are given a set of items (e.g. letters, digits) one
at a time and then, after varying periods of delay, are asked for recall of the items. As
well, participants could be asked whether a specific target item was present in their
original set. The serial order of items and the relationships between them can have
varying effects on the item's speed and accuracy of recall.

Serial memory processing uses internal representations of the memory set in order to
compare them to a target stimulus or item that is being presented. These internal
representations are then compared to the target stimulus, one at a time. Reaction time
increases linearly with the set size, where the more items in the memory set, the longer
it will take to compare.

The term working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and
manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language
comprehension, learning, and reasoning. Information only reaches your working
memory if it is given attention. If you make an effort to actively maintain the
information, through repetition, evaluation, or other means, it will make its way into
your working memory and maybe into your long-term memory. Without attention, the
information begins to decay.

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Capacity: Working memory is widely acknowledged as having limited capacity. An early
quantification of the capacity limit associated with short-term memory claimed that the
information-processing capacity of young adults is around seven elements, which he
called "chunks", regardless of whether the elements are digits, letters, words, or other
units. Later research revealed this number depends on the category of chunks used (e.g.,
span may be around seven for digits, six for letters, and five for words), and even on
features of the chunks within a category. For instance, the span is lower for long than
short words.

In a serial recall test, participants are presented with a series of items (such as digits,
letters, words, or pictures) and are asked to recall the items in the order in which they
were presented, working from the beginning to the end of the series. Recalling a
telephone number is an everyday example of a serial recall task: the digits in a telephone
number must be remembered in correct sequential order. Thus, memory both for the
items and for the order in which they occurred is critical.

Recall bias is a systematic error that occurs when participants do not remember
previous events or experiences accurately or omit details,the accuracy and volume of
memories may be influenced by subsequent events and experiences. In case-control
studies, researchers must be careful to question each study participant, in the same way,
to avoid influencing their responses. Bias in recall can be greater when the study
participant has a poorer recall in general, and when events over a longer time interval
are being asked about. Other issues that influence recall include age, education,
socioeconomic status and how important the condition is to the patient. Furthermore,
undesirable habits such as smoking or eating unhealthy foods tend to be underreported,
and are therefore subject to recall bias. Pre-existing beliefs may also impact on recall of
previous events.

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 2.Methodology

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For our project WHAT’S IN A LIST – SERIAL MEMORY we had done an experiment in
the computer using the software MATLAB. The experiment is designed using a
particular program which includes many variations and specifications. In the
experiment firstly, it was started by taking the details such as Name ,age , gender,
right/left handed ,practice task or not then after the experiment of Serial Memory starts
where it displays the instructions which describes that, the experiment resembles as a
small game of colors and shapes where the few colors randomly move on one after the
other and then it displays two of those colors you need to select which has arrived
recently by pressing left or right arrow ,If we are ready to do the experiment then must
press the spacebar.

Here begins the experiment ,the square boxes filled with several colors such as red, pink,
green ,yellow, dark ,blue, violet move briskly within a span of a second in a line at
random locations,here we need to remember the order of the displayed colors based on
the time of arrival ,then we can observe two colors , from those we need to select latest
or recently appeared color by pressing left/right arrow ,then we can see “+” mark which
indicates that one trial has done and next one will start.

The same theme like colors applies for the shapes too. The shapes such as square,
triangle, pentagon, octagon and some other shaped figures move one after the other in a
random manner. The shapes need to be memorized based on the serial occurrence of the
shapes i.e., which figure has arrived at which time and we need to choose the
appropriate shape.

The same process continues until the trials of the experiment are completed. In this
experiment of serial memory, the trials are 360.The breaks we got are five in the
experiment. After that our result will be shown in an excel sheet.

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 3.Results
Prasanna’s result:

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Graphical Representation:

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘catch trial’.

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average

reaction time of the ‘stable queue trial’.

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 The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘informative queue trial’.

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Varshith’s result:

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Graphical representation:

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘catch trial’.

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘stable queue trial’.

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 The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘informative queue trial’.

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Rishi’s result:

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Graphical representation:

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘catch trial’.

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘stable queue trial’.

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 The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘informative queue trial’.

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Vindhya’s result:

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Graphical representation:

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘catch trial’.

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘stable queue trial’.

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 The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘informative queue trial’.

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Rakshith’s result:

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Graphical representation:

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘catch trial’.

The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘stable queue trial’.

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 The above plotted graphs are the calculations of the average accuracy and average
reaction time of the ‘informative queue trial’.

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 4.Discussion

One popular model that has been used to organize serial memory processing is the
ACT-R. ACT- R model is Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational. This cognitive
architecture has been used to help hierarchically organized serial memory. This model
separates declarative memory and production memory into separate functions. During
serial memory processing, declarative memory works to encode the physical positions of
the items in the original memory set. As well, the production memory works to help
organize the later recall of the items in the memory set. The ACT-R is a limited-capacity
model meaning that there is a limited amount of activation available to use for
processing. This limited-capacity helps to explain the linear relationship between time of
recall and size of memory set. According to the ACT-R, the longer the original memory
set, the longer the recall because the amount of available activation is being divided
amongst more items now. More evidence exists for the ACT-R modeling serial memory
processing. It has been found that the ACT-R models the serial position error nearly
perfectly. It produces the same primacy and recency effects found in earlier studies. As
well, the ACT-R has been found to model acoustic errors nearly perfectly. It
demonstrates the same findings of phonologically similar and different items found in
earlier studies.

Another model of serial memory processing is the model for item recognition. This
model helps to explain how items in the memory set are compared to the target item. It
explains the processes that go into the response decision of whether the target item was
present in the original memory set of items. Firstly, this model states that after the
target item, being compared to the memory set, is presented, it is then encoded into the
brain. The next step is to complete serial comparisons based on the mental
representation of the memory items and the target item. These comparisons are
completed serially, in order, and are affected by the size of the original memory set.
Where the longer the original memory set of items, the longer it will take to complete the
comparisons.

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While comparisons are being done, there is a binary decision being made for each
comparison. This decision is either positive or negative, depending on whether the
target item matches the representation of an item in the memory set. After each
comparison, and individual decision, is completed, the responses are organized and
finally expressed. This model demonstrates the relationships between lengths of
memory set and longer recall time. As well, this model focuses on exhaustive processing,
where all comparisons are made, regardless of whether a positive response was found.

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 5.References

1. Townsend, J. & Fific, M. (2004). Parallel versus serial processing and individual
differences in high-speed search in human memory.

2. Parmentier, F. B., Andres, P., Elford, G., & Jones, D. M. (2006). Organization of
visuo- spatial serial memory: Interaction of temporal order with spatial and temporal
grouping.

3. https://psych.hanover.edu/JavaTest/CLE/Cognition_js/exp/attnBlink.html

4. https://psych.hanover.edu/JavaTest/CLE/Cognition_js/exp/stroop.html

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