Biomedical subjects

Jerwen Jou

Publications and source records attributed to Jerwen Jou.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Memory retrieval tasks determine the serial position curves of linear orders with categorical structures.

I examined 2 different views on organization of linear order information in memory: the linear schema view and the hierarchical structure view. The linear schema view holds that there is a strong tendency in memory to organize an array of transitively related elements into a unidimensional order. The hierarchical structure view maintains that the transitively related elements are organized in memory in a hierarchy of items. I proposed an input structure and retrieval compatibility hypothesis as a coherent explanation for the contradictory views on the memory organization of serial elements. I argue that the organization of linear order information in memory is determined by the nature of the memory retrieval task used. For example, a comparative judgment task is more compatible with a unidimensional structure, whereas a sequential recall or serial position identification task is more compatible with a hierarchical organization. The input structure and retrieval compatibility concept can also explain why dichotomous categories imposed on a linear order play very little role in comparative judgments.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2004

How similar is false recognition to veridical recognition objectively and subjectively?

Three recognition memory experiments were conducted using modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) and DRM paradigms. In Experiment 1, the reaction time (RT) of the false alarms to critical nonpresented words (false memory) was compared with the RT of hits to the critical presented words and with the RT of hits to the studied list words (true memory). The RT of the false alarms to the critical nonpresented words was significantly longer than that of the hits to the critical words and than that of the studied list words. In Experiment 2, in addition to RT, participants' confidence level was measured on a 4-point scale for a yes or no response. Confidence rating was significantly higher for the hits to the critical presented words and to the list words than for the false alarms to the critical non-presented words. Experiment 3 further showed that how similar false memory experience was to that of true memory was a function of retention size (number of lists of words retained in memory). In all three experiments, the participants' recognition RTs distinguished false memory from veridical memory, and in Experiments 2 and 3, so did their confidence ratings. Therefore, false memory and veridical memory differ at both the objective and the subjective levels. The results are consistent with a single familiarity dimension model of recognition memory.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Contraction bias in memorial quantifying judgment: does it come from a stable compressed memory representation or a dynamic adaptation process?

A common response bias in psychophysical judgments is regression toward the mean (overestimation of small and underestimation of large values, or the response contraction bias). The same bias is observed in magnitude estimation from memorized quantities. Participants estimated alphabetic interval distances between 2 letters for different levels of interletter distances. The underestimated and overestimated values and the point of least error changed, depending on the level of alphabetic distances judged; furthermore, their estimation showed a progressively increasing tendency toward the mean, rendering the estimation progressively less accurate as the estimation task was repeated. We conclude that the regression toward the mean in memorial quantifying judgment derives from a cognitive adaptation process rather than from a permanent, compressed memory representation of the stimuli. Two opposing views on the adaptive meaning of this judgment bias are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Multiple number and letter comparison: directionality and accessibility in numeric and alphabetic memories.

In 3 experiments, subjects made comparativejudgments on a set of 2 numbers or letters, 3 numbers or letters, or 5 numbers or letters. Numeric and alphabetic serial order memories were contrasted. Three aspects of serial order memory processes were identified: computational complexity, directionality, and accessibility. Computational complexity is the number of algorithmic steps involved in identifying a target. Directional bias is measured as the speed differences in identifying serial targets of equal computational complexity in a stimulus array. Memory accessibility is measured as the numeric and alphabetic serial position effects. Subjects had a slight directional bias favoring backward ordering for single digits but no bias in 2-digit number ordering, in contrast to a strong forward directional advantage in letter ordering. The speed of number access was found to steadily and evenly decrease along the numeric scale, in contrast to a systematic pattern of variations in alphabet access along the alphabetic scale. Finally, the middle item effect (the middle item in a multi-item array is identified most slowly) found in Jou's (1997) multiple-letter comparison study was generalized to numbers.

Adult↗