R. Mizuno, THE INFLUENCE OF LONG-TERM-MEMORY ON VISUOSPATIAL SKETCHPAD - A TEST OF A NEW FACTOR CAUSING RECENCY EFFECTS, Shinrigaku Kenkyu, 67(5), 1996, pp. 359-366
Three immediate serial recall experiments, using articulatory suppress
ion examined the influence of visual long-term memory on visuo-spatial
sketchpad. In Experiments 1 and 2, serial recall rates of unfamiliar
figures, familiar figures, and numbers were investigated. The results
showed that the more visual long-term memory the stimuli evoked, the m
ore salient recency effects and primacy effects occurred. Based on the
se results, the following process is hypothesized to be one of the fac
tors causing recency effects. If the visual information of items input
ted into visuo-spatial sketchpad is already in long-term memory, only
their retrieval cues are formed and retained. Thus, other information
is erased from visuo-spatial sketchpad, which makes more room, so that
subsequent items are inputted into visuo-spatial sketchpad. In Experi
ment 3, reaction times of a visual secondary task during presentation
were measured. The results indicated that there was more room in visuo
-spatial sketchpad when primacy and recency effects occurred, which su
pported the hypothesis. Finally, the interaction of working memory and
long-term memory is discussed.