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| Research article summary (published 27 Feb 2009): |
Bridging the gap: transitive associations between items presented in similar temporal contexts.
Full Abstract
In episodic memory tasks, associations are formed between items presented close together in time. The temporal context model (TCM) hypothesizes that this contiguity effect is a consequence of shared temporal context rather than temporal proximity per se. Using double-function lists of paired associates (e.g., A-B, B-C) presented in a random order, the authors examined associations between items that were not presented close together in time but that were presented in similar temporal contexts. After learning, across-pair associations fell off with distance in the list, as if subjects had integrated the pairs into a coherent memory structure. Within-pair associations (e.g., A-B) were strongly asymmetric favoring forward transitions; across-pair associations (e.g., A-C) showed no evidence of asymmetry. While this pattern of results presented a stern challenge for a heteroassociative mediated chaining model, TCM provided an excellent fit to the data. These findings suggest that contiguity effects in episodic memory do not reflect direct associations between items but rather a process of binding, encoding, and retrieval of a gradually changing representation of temporal context. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved
Author information
Author/s: Howard, Marc W (MW); Jing, Bing (B); Rao, Vinayak A (VA); Provyn, Jennifer P (JP); Datey, Aditya V (AV);
Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. marc(-atsign-)memory.syr.edu
Grants: MH069938-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2009-Mar; vol 35 (issue 2) : pp 391-407
Dates: Created 2009/03/10; Completed 2009/05/11;
PMID: 19271854, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 5/11/2009, IMS Date: 11 May 2009 00:00:00)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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