A Note on Immediate Memory

Abstract

In the course of an extensive inquiry into verbal memory processes (Gomulicki, 1952), some data were collected which appear to throw fresh light on the nature of immediate memory. In particular, it was found that many of the varieties of constructive change defined by Bartlett (1932) in connexion with long-term recall could be traced in the immediate reproduction of passages so brief as barely to exceed the memory-span. As changes of this nature do not appear to have been previously described in connexion with short-term recall some illustrative extracts from our material will be given. A full analysis along somewhat different lines has been presented elsewhere (Gomulicki, 1952).

In Gomulicki's experiments, narratives varying in length between 15 and 200 words were read aloud to 50 subjects, who were required to reproduce each passage orally as accurately as possible immediately after it had been read. The subjects (of whom half were women) were University graduates and undergraduates aged between 20 and 30. All subjects were tested individually and their reproductions recorded verbatim. In the present note, we shall be concerned only with the results given in the case of two passages, respectively 22 and 44 words in length. Despite their brevity, striking and consistent changes were observed in the reproductions which merit brief analysis.