Memory span: a review of the literature.

Abstract

Although many researches have been undertaken in the field of memory span, both by experimental psychologists and by those in the field of mental testing, there has been no attempt to summarize or to systematize the findings of the investigators who have studied the various aspects of this subject.This paper has been undertaken with that end in view. 2 ALBERT B. BLANKENSHIP experimental work on the problem.In the same year, Jacobs (68), an English philosopher, wrote, " There is ... a certain number of syllables up to which each person can repeat . . .after only once hearing; and it is probable that this number varies with different persons."In 1887, he made the first formal experiment on "prehension" (69), discovering that the ability increased with age.Galton (48), in the same journal, noted that inmates of institutions for the feebleminded possessed lower prehension ability than did the normal children tested by Jacobs.In 1888, Burnham (21) summarized some of these results in his comprehensive paper on memory.From this time on, memory span research was more common.The most important work in the field since 1890 will be reviewed here, not primarily from the historical standpoint, but from the aspect of logical organization.If the reader be interested in historical summaries including some of the work on memory span, he is referred to the review by Burnham (21), and those by Young (144), Kuhlmann (78), Wylie (142), and McGeoch (87). II. WHAT IS MEMORY SPAN?To define memory span, one must examine the question from two viewpoints, the functional and the structural. 2 (1) Functional Aspect.Functionally, Binet (8) has defined prehension as "the maximum number of digits retained after a single hearing."But the definition, of course, need not be restricted to the use of digits.Humpstone (65) broadened this definition when he described memory span as " the ability to grasp a number of discrete units in a single moment of attention and to reproduce them immediately."Learning (80) elaborated upon this: " It [memory span] appears to measure the number of discrete units over which the individual can successively distribute his attention and still organize them into a working unit."Watkins (133) stated that immediate memory ". . . is the capacity to repeat impressions which have not entirely disappeared from consciousness, the expression following immediately upon the impression."Strong (125) defined it as "a line of successive presents."To generalize, memory span refers to the ability of an individual to reproduce immediately, after one presentation, a series of discrete stimuli in their original order.Practically any sort of material may be presented, such as digits, letters, words, and sounds, and almost any sense organ or combination of sense organs may be used to receive the impressions.Both of these variables will be discussed under subsequent headings.(2) Structural Aspect.A structural definition of memory span is difficult to give, for one immediately is faced by the distinctions between the prerequisites for memory span, and the actual processes involved.Although an intact sense organ, an afferent tract, a central projection area, efficient association fibers, and a certain degree of attention are all involved, as Smith (119) points out, these terms do nofdescribe the processes actually involved in memory span.Processes of attention are involved, as McCaulley (86), Gundlach, Rothschild, and Young (56), Cattell (28).T. L. Bolton (16), Johnson (72), and

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 137 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.