Representation of memory for order of mental operations in cognitive tasks

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Publication Type Journal Article
School or College College of Education
Department Educational Psychology
Creator Gardner Michael K.; Woltz, Dan J.
Other Author Bell, Brian G.
Title Representation of memory for order of mental operations in cognitive tasks
Date 2002
Description Recent research shows that people learning a cognitive task acquire a memory for the order of operations applied, independent of the data to which those operations were applied. We designed two experiments to show how this sequence memory is represented. Experiment 1 compared predictions based on 3 possible sequence representation methods: composition, dyad transition, and associative chain. Latency and error results from a simple sequential task supported the associative chain representation. The associative links between operations presumably enhance performance by priming subsequent operations but do not operate in an all-or-none fashion. Experiment 2 explored whether transfer items that matched the first 2 rules and first 3 elements of a training item could bias participants toward executing a composed production learned during training. Latency and undetected error results were consistent with an associative chain representation but not with additional predictions made by the composition representation. These two experiments support the representation of operation sequences in memory as an associative chain.
Type Text
Publisher University of Illinois Press
Volume 115
Issue 2
First Page 251
Last Page 274
Subject Cognitive skills; Operation sequences; Sequential skills
Subject LCSH Memory; Cognitive psychology; Human information processing
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Gardner, M. K., Woltz, D. J. & Bell, B. G. (2002). Representation of memory for order of mental operations in cognitive tasks. American Journal of Psychology, 115 (2), 251-74.
Rights Management From American Journal of Psychology. Copyright 2002 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press. No part of this article may be reproduced, photocopied, posted elsewhere or distributed through any means without the permission of the University of Illinois Press.
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 324,556 Bytes
Identifier ir-main,3557
ARK ark:/87278/s69w0zxz
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ID 705028
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s69w0zxz
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