Abstract
The effects of task demands on the representation of letter strings in long-term repetition priming (LTRP) were explored in two lexical decision experiments. The stimuli in both experiments were words and nonwords, some presented horizontally and some vertically. The only difference between the two experiments was the response required by the participant. In Experiment 1, the participants pressed one of two buttons, indicating whether or not a given stimulus was a word. In Experiment 2, the participants pressed one of four buttons, indicating both the lexical status and the orientation of a given stimulus. The results were that in Experiment 1, LTRP was not disrupted by a change in stimulus orientation, whereas in Experiment 2 it was, suggesting that the nature of the stimulus representation utilized in LTRP is partially dependent on the demands of the task.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Refereces
Anderson, J. R. (1983).The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brown, J. S., &Carr, T. H. (1993). Limits on perceptual abstraction in reading: Asymmetric transfer between surface forms differing in typicality.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,19, 1277–1296.
Caramazza, A., &Hillis, A. E. (1990). Levels of representation, coordinate frames, and unilateral neglect.Cognitive Neuropsychology,7, 391–445.
Carr, T. H., Brown, J. S., &Charalambous, A. (1989). Repetition and reading: Perceptual encoding mechanisms are very abstract but not very interactive.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,15, 763–778.
Carr, T. H., Dagenbach, D., VanWieren, D., Carlson Radvansky, L. A., Alejano, A. R., &Brown, J. S. (1992). Acquiring general knowledge from specific episodes of experience. In C. Umiltà and M. Moscovitch (Eds.),Attention and performance XV: Conscious and nonconscious information processing (pp. 697–724). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Bradford Books.
Feustel, T. C., Shiffrin, R. M., &Salasoo, A. (1983). Episodic and lexical contributions to the repetition effect in word identification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,112, 309–346.
Forbach, G. B., Stanners, R. F., &Hochhaus, L. (1974). Repetition and practice effects in a lexical decision task.Memory & Cognition,2, 337–339.
Grant, S. C., &Logan, G. D. (1993). The loss of repetition priming and automaticity over time as a function of degree of initial learning.Memory & Cognition,21, 611–618.
Hintzman, D. L. (1976). Repetition and memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 47–91). New York: Academic Press.
Jacoby, L. L., &Brooks, L. (1984). Nonanalytic cognition: Memory, perception, and concept learning. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 18, pp. 1–47). New York: Academic Press.
Johnson, D. N. (1996, October).The representation of letter strings as assessed by long-term repetition priming. Paper presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago.
Kersteen-Tucker, Z. (1991). Long-term repetition priming with symmetrical polygons and words.Memory & Cognition,19, 37–43.
Kučera, H., &Francis, W. N. (1967).Computational analysis of presentday American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.
Logan, G. D. (1988). Toward an instance theory of automatization.Psychological Review,4, 492–527.
Logan, G. D. (1990). Repetition priming and automaticity: Common underlying mechanisms?Cognitive Psychology,22, 1–35.
Logan, G. D. (1992). Shapes of reaction-time distributions and shapes of learning curves: A test of the instance theory of automaticity.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,18, 883–914.
Logan, G. D., &Etherton, J. L. (1994). What is learned during automatization?The role of attention in constructing an instance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 1022–1050.
Logan, G. D., Taylor, S. E., &Etherton, J. L. (1996). Attention and the acquisition and expression of automaticity.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,22, 620–638.
MacKay, D. G. (1982). The problem of flexibility, fluency, and speed-accuracy trade-off in skilled behavior.Psychological Review,89, 483–506.
Masson, M. E. J. (1986). Identification of typographically transformed words: Instance-based skill acquisition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,12, 479–488.
McKone, E. (1995). Short-term implicit memory for words and nonwords.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,21, 1108–1126.
Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., &Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,16, 519–533.
Morton, J. (1969). Interaction of information in word recognition.Psychological Review,76, 165–178.
Rapp, B. C., &Caramazza, A. (1991). Spatially determined deficits in letter and word processing.Cognitive Neuropsychology,8, 275–311.
Ratcliff, R., Hockley, W., &McKoon, G. (1985). Components of activation: Repetition and priming effects in lexical decision and recognition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,114, 435–450.
Salasoo, A, Shiffrin, R. M., &Feustel, T. C. (1985). Building permanent memory codes: Codification and repetition effects in word identification.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,114, 50–77.
Scarborough, D. L., Cortese, C., &Scarborough, H. S. (1977). Frequency and repetition effects in lexical memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,3, 1–17.
Tenpenny, P. L. (1995). Abstractionist versus episodic theories of repetition priming and word identification.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,2, 339–363.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a Faculty Start-Up Grant from Colgate University. Bill Bacon, Bill Badecker, Richard Braaten, Alfonso Caramazza, Howard Egeth, Anne Hillstrom, Molly Treadway Johnson, Ho-wan Kwak, Gordon Logan, J. Toby Mordkoff, Andrew Olson, Brenda Rapp, Myra O. Smith, and Steve Yantis all provided valuable feedback on early versions of the logic, design, and interpretation of the data.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, D.N. Task demands and representation in long-term repetition priming. Memory & Cognition 28, 1303–1309 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211831
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211831