title: Multiple number and letter comparison: directionality and accessibility in numeric and alphabetic memories.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Anthropology, The University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg 78541-2999, USA. jjou@panam.edu
authors.forename: Jerwen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008568:Memory; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis