Frequency Monitoring: A Methodology for Assessing the Organization of Information
Abstract
The general purpose of the research supported by this grant was to evaluate the viability of a technique for assessing the encoding of componential and higher-order memory units of visual stimuli. The technique involves presented a sequence of stimuli such that certain visual information is presented with different frequencies. For example, the frequency with which different words occur in a list of words might vary, as might the frequency of occurrence of different letters constituting the words. The presentation of the stimulus sequence is followed by a memory test in which subjects judge the frequency with which specified events occurred in the sequence. In applying this procedure to a variety of stimulus materials and tasks, we have been able to assess the extent to which subjects' judgments of frequency of occurrence are influenced by both component-level and higher-order memory units. In addition to having many practical advantages, the frequency-judgement technique appears to be a valuable tool for assessing certain kinds of learning and answering theoretical questions relating to the encoding of memory units. Keywords: Cognitive psychology, Information theory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA202238
Entities
People
- Howard S. Hock
- Lynn Hasher
Organizations
- Florida Atlantic University