We examined the retention of performance in memory, visual, and hybrid memory/visual search after subjects received extensive consistent mapping (CM) practice. In the first two experiments we examined retention of detection performance in memory scanning (Experiment 1) and in visual search (Experiment 2) approximately one month after training. In the third experiment we examined performance 1, 30, 90, 180, and 365 days following training on pure visual and hybrid memory/visual semantic-category search tasks. We examined retention at intervals up to one year after practice as a function of amount of CM practice. In addition, we assessed the degree of category activation (performance on untrained words from the trained categories) at each retention interval. Across experiments, we found no decay in CM trained memory search and minimal decay in pure visual search. Significant decline in CM performance was largely attributable to performance in the hybrid memory/visual search conditions. These data reconcile previously equivocal retention results for CM trained search performance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Anderson, J. R. (1982). Acquisition of cognitive skill. Psychological Review, 89, 369–406.
2.
Bahrick, H. P. (1979). Maintenance of knowledge: Questions about memory we forgot to ask. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 108, 296–308.
3.
Bahrick, H. P. (1983). The cognitive map of a city-50 years of learning and memory. In G. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 17, pp. 125–163). New York: Academic.
4.
Bahrick, H. P. (1984). Semantic memory in permastore: Fifty years of memory for Spanish learned in school. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 1–29.
5.
Bahrick, H. P., Bahrick, P. O., and Wittlinger, R. P. (1975). Fifty years of memories for names and faces: A cross-sectional approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 54–75.
6.
Battig, W. F., and Montague, W. E. (1969). Category norms for verbal items in 56 categories: A replication and extension of the Connecticut category norms. Journal of Experimental Psychology Monographs, 80(3, Pt. 2).
7.
Collen, A., Wickens, D. D., and Daniele, L. (1975). The interrelationship of taxonomic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1, 629–633.
8.
Dumais, S. T. (1979). Perceptual learning in automatic detection: Processes and mechanisms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.
9.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1964). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (H. A. Rugers and C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work 1885, original translation 1913)
10.
Farr, M. J. (1987). The long-term retention of knowledge and skills: A cognitive and instructional perspective.New York: Springer-Verlag.
11.
Fisher, D. L., Duffy, S. A., Young, C., and Pollatsek, A. (1988). Understanding the central processing limit in consistent-mapping visual search tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14, 253–266.
12.
Fisk, A. D., Ackerman, P. L., and Schneider, W. (1987). Automatic and controlled processing theory and its application to human factors problems. In P. A. Hancock (Ed.). Human factors psychology (pp. 159–197). New York: North-Holland.
13.
Fisk, A. D., and Rogers, W. A. (1991). Toward an understanding of age-related memory and visual search effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 120, 131–149.
14.
Flach, J. M. (1986). Within-set discriminations in a consistent mapping search task. Perception and Psychophysics, 39, 397–408.
15.
Gentile, J. R., Monaco, N., Iheozor-Ejiofor, I. E., Ndu, A. N., and Ogbonaya, P. K. (1982). Retention by “fast” and “slow” learners. Intelligence, 6, 125–138.
16.
Hagman, J. D., and Rose, A. M. (1983). Retention of military tasks. A review. Human Factors, 25, 199–213.
17.
Healy, A. F., Fendrich, D. W., and Proctor, J. D. (1990). Acquisition and retention of a letter-detection skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 270–281.
18.
Hoffman, J. E. (1978). Search through a sequentially presented visual display. Perception and Psychophysics, 23, 1–11.
19.
Hoffman, J. E. (1979). A two-stage model of visual search. Perception and Psychophysics, 25, 319–327.
20.
Johnson, S. L. (1981). Effect of training device on retention and transfer of a procedural task. Human Factors, 23, 257–272.
21.
Kolers, P. A. (1976). Reading a year later. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 5, 554–565.
22.
Kristofferson, M. W. (1977). The effects of practice with one positive set in memory scanning can be completely transferred to a different positive set. Memory and Cognition, 5, 177–186.
23.
Kyllonen, P. C., and Tirre, W. C. (1988). Individual differences in associative learning and forgetting. Intelligence, 12, 393–421.
24.
Logan, G. D. (1978). Attention in character classification: Evidence for the automaticity of component stages. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 107, 32–63.
25.
Logan, G. D. (1985). Executive control of thought and action. Acta Psychologica, 60, 193–210.
26.
Logan, G. D. (1988). Toward an instance theory of automatization. Psychological Review, 95, 492–527.
27.
McClelland, J. L., Rumelhart, D. E., and Hinton, G. E. (1986). The appeal of parallel distributed processing. In D. E. Rumelhart and J. L. McClelland (Eds.), Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition (Vol. I, pp. 3–44). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
28.
Mengelkoch, R. F., Adams, J. A., and Gainer, C. A. (1971). The forgetting of instrument flying skills. Human Factors, 13, 397–405.
29.
Rabbitt, P. M. A., Cumming, G., and Vyas, S. (1979). Improvement, learning, and retention of skill at visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 31, 441–459.
30.
Rogers, W. A. (1989). Target and distractor learning in visual search: Age-related differences. Unpublished master's thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
31.
Rosenbloom, P. S., and Newell, A. (1986). The chunking of goal hierarchies: A generalized model of practice. In R. S. Michalski, J. G. Carbonel and T. M. Mitchell (Eds.), Machine learning: An artificial intelligence approach (Vol. 2. pp. 247–288). Los Altos. CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
32.
Salasoo, A., Shiffrin, R. M., and Feustel, T. C. (1985). Building permanent memory codes: Codification and repetition effects in word identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 114, 50–77.
33.
Schneider, W. (1985). Toward a model of attention and the development of automaticity. In M. I. Posner and O. S. Martin (Eds.), Attention and performance (Vol. 11, pp. 475–492). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
34.
Schneider, W., and Detweiler, M. (1987). A connectionist/control architecture for working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 21, pp. 53–118). New York: Academic.
35.
Schneider, W., and Detweiler, M. (1988). The role of practice in dual-task performance: Toward workload modeling in a connectionist/control architecture. Human Factors, 30, 539–566.
36.
Schneider, W., and Fisk, A. D. (1984). Automatic category search and its transfer. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 1–15.
37.
Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological Review, 84, 1–66.
38.
Schneider, W., and Shiffrin, R. M. (1985). Categorization (restructuring) and automatism: Two separable factors. Psychological Review, 92, 424–428.
39.
Shiffrin, R. M. (1988). Attention. In R. C. Atkinson, R. J. Hermstein, G. Lindzey, and R. D. Luce (Eds.), Stevens' handbook of experimental psychology (2nd ed., pp. 739–811). New York: Wiley.
40.
Shiffrin, R. M., and Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84, 127–190.
41.
Shuell, T. J., and Keppel, G. (1970). Learning ability and retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61, 59–65.
42.
Sperling, G., Budiansky, J., Spivak, J. G., and Johnson, M. C. (1971). Extremely rapid visual search: The maximum rate of scanning letters for the presence of a numeral. Science, 174, 307–311.
43.
Underwood, B. J. (1954). Speed of learning and amount retained: A consideration of methodology. Psychological Bulletin, 51, 276–282.
