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Biomedical subjects

D H Holding

Publications and source records attributed to D H Holding.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Sharing verbal and visuospatial resources in working memory.

A digit memory task and a delayed visual aiming task were used in a test of resource capacity theories. These tasks were run either singly, with short- or long-retention intervals, or in pairs. In the dual-task conditions, the short version of one was inserted into the longer version of the other. Delay by itself had no effect on retention, but the dual-task combinations showed asymmetrical interference: Inserting verbal memory into the visual-motor delay had little effect on either task, but inserting the motor task into the verbal retention interval disrupted both. These results thus support neither single nor multiple resource models, but can be explained with reference to component processes in working memory.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The effects of noise and speech on cognitive task performance.

In the present study, which is based on Loeb's 1986 analysis, we used five levels of noise that varied in intermittency and meaningfulness, crossed with sex of subject and time of day. Memory tasks that differed in their reliance upon long-term, short-term free recall, and sequential short-term memory were used as dependent variables. A total of 160 subjects, 20 per block, participated in the 2 x 2 x 5 (Sexes x Time of Day x Noise Conditions) experimental design. Results support the prediction that white noise enhances performance on tasks with sequential short-term memory demands (anagrams: p < .05; random letter generation: p < .002). We found complex interactions by sex of subject, time of day, and type of noise for those tasks that placed a heavy demand on short-term working memory, i.e., complex sorting (Noise x Sex, p < .05) and random letter generation (Sex x Noise x Time of Day, p < .05). The predicted effects for anagrams were not supported. These results call into question previous generalizations about the effects of noise on performance (Broadbent, 1978; Dornic, Sarnelid, Larson, Svensson, & Fernaeus, 1982; Poulton, 1977), alternative interpretations are presented.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1987

Toward meaningful noise research.

The present review considers a series of studies of noise conducted in collaboration with Dr. Michel Loeb. This review attempts to provide a theoretical perspective as well as to summarize the most important findings of those studies. The work reviewed shows that noise effects interact with other variables, such that a noise effect on one sex is reversed for the other, and is also reversed at different times of the day. A second experiment confirmed this finding with a different arithmetic task. Further work indicated parallels between noise and fatigue, with aftereffects depending upon both work and noise. The final experiment repeated some of these findings with a different task battery of information processing tasks while showing that noise effects further depend on the meaningfulness of the noise background.

Circadian Rhythm↗
PubMed1986

Date attribution, age, and the distribution of lifetime memories.

Conflicting results have been reported for the lifetime distribution of personal memories. To resolve the discrepancy, two age groups were asked to respond to cue words by supplying event associations, and to date the remembered events using either the standard or a serial procedure. Memory retrieval times, dating times, and the frequencies of elicited memories, were compared across the four quarters of the life span. The 70-year-olds took twice as long to respond, and twice as long to supply dates, as the 20-year-olds. Age interacted with period of life, in dating time, but not with the dating method on any measure. The serial dating method halved the time required by the standard method but, as predicted, distorted the lifetime frequency pattern. With serial dating, earlier memories were more rapidly dated and more numerous than with the standard procedure. The effects are ascribed to the activation of temporal markers in both age groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Sensory storage of fragmentary displays.

A partial-report version of the Eriksen-Collins paradigm was devised to test iconic storage. The test lay in presenting arrays of 12 partial letters, one of which was randomly chosen for completion. Additional conditions checked whether the completed letters were legible and to what extent the completion fragments were guessable. Test sequences included dark or light inter-stimulus intervals and 4 different delay times, which had no significant effects. Analysis showed that subjects were no better able to report a synthesis of the first and second fragments than to guess the letters from separate fragments. A second experiment demonstrated some integration of successive single-letter presentations, although subjects apparently do not have iconic access to full arrays of letter fragments.

Attention↗
PubMed1975

Extremely long-term persistence of the McCollough effect.

The question has been raised whether an associative mechanism is responsible for the persistence of the McCollough effect. Since current estimates of its rate of decay are derived from procedures in which subjects are repeatedly tested, it was hypothesized that the measured effects might be attenuated by the testing process. Accordingly, a comparison was made between repeated testing and time-elapse testing. A conventional group of 16 subjects had repeated testing at 0, 8, 24, 56, and 120 hr. after induction. Five other groups of 16 were run, each at one of the time delays, with no intervening tests; an additional measure was taken where appropriate at 120 hr. A magenta-green nulling procedure was used to assess the aftereffect. The repeated-test group showed a linear decrease of effect against the stated delays, reaching zero at 120 hr. In contrast, the time-elapse groups showed little decline up to 120 hr. Those groups retested at 120 hr. showed declines due to prior testing. When four more groups were subsequently tested at intervals up to 2,040 hr., the effect remained at better than half strength.

Adolescent↗