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Opportunity for verbalization does not improve visual change detection performance: A state-trace analysis
Citation
Sense, F and Morey, CC and Prince, M and Heathcote, A and Morey, RD, Opportunity for verbalization does not improve visual change detection performance: A state-trace analysis, Behavior Research Methods (Online), 49, (3) pp. 853-862. ISSN 1554-3528 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.3758/s13428-016-0741-1
Abstract
Evidence suggests that there is a tendency to verbally recode visually-presented information, and that in some cases verbal recoding can boost memory performance. According to multi-component models of working memory, memory performance is increased because task-relevant information is simultaneously maintained in two codes. The possibility of dual encoding is problematic if the goal is to measure capacity for visual information exclusively. To counteract this possibility, articulatory suppression is frequently used with visual change detection tasks specifically to prevent verbalization of visual stimuli. But is this precaution always necessary? There is little reason to believe that concurrent articulation affects performance in typical visual change detection tasks, suggesting that verbal recoding might not be likely to occur in this paradigm, and if not, precautionary articulatory suppression would not always be necessary. We present evidence confirming that articulatory suppression has no discernible effect on performance in a typical visual change-detection task in which abstract patterns are briefly presented. A comprehensive analysis using both descriptive statistics and Bayesian state-trace analysis revealed no evidence for any complex relationship between articulatory suppression and performance that would be consistent with a verbal recoding explanation. Instead, the evidence favors the simpler explanation that verbal strategies were either not deployed in the task or, if they were, were not effective in improving performance, and thus have no influence on visual working memory as measured during visual change detection. We conclude that in visual change detection experiments in which abstract visual stimuli are briefly presented, pre-cautionary articulatory suppression is unnecessary.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | Articulatory suppression, Change detection, State-trace, Working memory capacity, Verbalization |
| Research Division: | Psychology and Cognitive Sciences |
| Research Group: | Cognitive Sciences |
| Research Field: | Computer Perception, Memory and Attention |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences |
| Author: | Heathcote, A (Professor Andrew Heathcote) |
| ID Code: | 109421 |
| Year Published: | 2017 (online first 2016) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 1 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2016-06-15 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-10-12 |
| Downloads: | 30 View Download Statistics |
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