Measures of short-term memory: a historical review.
Following Ebbinghaus (1885/1964), a number of procedures have been devised to measure short-term memory using immediate serial recall: digit span, Knox's (1913) cube imitation test and Corsi's (1972) blocks task. Understanding the cognitive processes involved in these tasks was obstructed initially by the lack of a coherent concept of short-term memory and later by the mistaken assumption that short-term and long-term memory reflected distinct processes as well as different kinds of experimental task. Despite its apparent conceptual simplicity, a variety of cognitive mechanisms are responsible for short-term memory, and contemporary theories of working memory have helped to clarify these. Contrary to the earliest writings on the subject, measures of short-term memory do not provide a simple measure of mental capacity, but they do provide a way of understanding some of the key mechanisms underlying human cognition.
Richardson
John T E
JT
Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. J.T.E.Richardson@open.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition / Q000145:classification*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000145:classification*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000266:history*; D011589:Psychology, Experimental / Q000266:history* / Q000379:methods; D014888:Wechsler Scales / Q000266:history*