SHORT-TERM MEMORY INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND SHIFT PERFORMANCE IN CONCEPT FORMATION

USING SIMPLE STIMULI GENERATED BY 4 ORTHOGONAL BINARY DIMENSIONS, 96 COLLEGE SS SOLVED 2 SUCCESSIVE CONCEPT FORMATION PROBLEMS. BETWEEN THE 2 TASKS, SS RECALLED BACKWARDLY THE MOST RECENT STIMULI PRESENTED. WHEN SOLUTION CRITERION WAS 8/8, SS WHO SOLVED THE ORIGINAL TASK RAPIDLY DID NOT DIFFER FROM THOSE WHO SOLVED IN SLOWLY IN RECALL OF RELEVANT AND IRRELEVANT STIMULUS ATTRIBUTES. UPON A NONREVERSAL SHIFT, SS WHO WERE RAPID SOLVERS ON THE ORIGINAL TASK WERE RAPID ON THE SHIFT TASK. WHEN A 40/40 OVERLEARNING CRITERION WAS IMPOSED, SS WHO SOLVED RAPIDLY EXHIBITED A BACKWARD MEMORY DEFICIT FOR RELEVANT ATTRIBUTES AND HAD DIFFICULTY WITH THE SHIFT TASK, WHILE SLOW SOLVERS EXHIBITED A LENGTHENED BACKWARD SPAN AND SOLVED THE SHIFT TASK RAPIDLY. THERE WAS A STRONG OVERLEARNING EFFECT, BUT IT WAS LIMITED TO SS WHO SOLVED THE ORIGINAL TASK SLOWLY. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.