The effects of concurrent interference on the storage and retrieval of new material.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of conscious and nonconscious processes in the storage and retrieval of new memories. A mathematical model of memory was employed which provides independent estimates of storage and retrieval efficiency, measured using a learning task. The learning task utilized a categorized or an uncategorized word list. A concurrent motor task was used to interfere with the amount of attention than could be devoted to the learning task. In general, storage estimates were higher for the categorized list than the uncategorized list, and retrieval estimates were higher for the uncategorized list than the categorized list. The results suggested that conscious processes are involved in both storage and retrieval for uncategorized list learning, whereas conscious processes are relatively more involved in retrieval than storage for categorized list learning. The findings also suggested that subjective organization requires more effort than semantic organization, and when more effort is required by the learning task, algorithmic retrieval learning is facilitated. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for memory remediation and memory assessment.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1994 .N48. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0888. Adviser: Douglas Shore. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1994