Abstract
A rhesus monkey was tested in an auditory list memory task with blocked and mixed retention delays. Each list of four natural or environmental sounds (from a center speaker) was followed by a retention delay (0, 1, 2, 10, 20, or 30 sec) and then by a recognition test (from two side speakers). The monkey had been tested for 12 years in tasks with blocked delays. An earlier (4 years prior) blocked-delay test was repeated, with virtually identical results. The results from the mixed-delay test were likewise similar. Thus, the peculiarities of blocked-delay testing, such as delay predictability or differences in list spacing, apparently do not alter this monkey’s memory for auditory lists. It is concluded from this and other evidence that the monkey’s serial position functions reflect mnemonic processes that change with changes in retention delay and are not artifacts of the blocked-delay procedure. The nature of the monkey’s auditory memory is discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkinson, R. C., &Shiffrin, R. M. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence (Eds.),The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 2, pp. 89–105). New York: Academic Press.
Baddeley, A D., &Hitch, G. J. (1977). Recency reexamined. In S. Dornic (Ed.),Attention and performance VI (pp. 647–667). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Bjork, R. A. (2001). Recency and recovery in human memory. In H. L. Roediger III, J. S. Nairne, I. Neath, & A. M. Surprenant (Eds.),The nature of remembering: Essays in honor of Robert G. Crowder (pp. 211–232). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.
Bjork, R. A., &Whitten, W. B. (1974). Recency-sensitive retrieval processes in long-term free recall.Cognitive Psychology,6, 173–189.
Bolhuis, J. J., &van Kampen, H. S. (1988). Serial position curves in spatial memory of rats: Primacy and recency effects.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,40B, 135–149.
Buchanan, J. P., Gill, T. V., &Braggio, J. T. (1981). Serial position and clustering effects in chimpanzee’s “free recall.”Memory & Cognition,9, 651–660.
Campbell, R., &Dodd, B. (1980). Hearing by eye.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,32, 85–99.
Castro, C. A. (1995). Primacy and recency effects in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) using serial probe recognition task: I. Effects of diazepam.Psychopharmacology,119, 421–427.
Castro, C. A. (1997). Primacy and recency effects in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) using a serial probe recognition task: II. Effects of atropine sulfate.Behavioral Neuroscience,111, 676–682.
Castro, C. A., &Larsen, T. (1992). Primacy and recency effects in nonhuman primates.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,18, 335–340.
Crowder, R. G. (1976).Principles of learning and memory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Crowder, R. G. (1993). Short-term memory: Where do we stand?Memory & Cognition,21, 142–145.
Gillund, G., &Shiffrin, R. M. (1984). A retrieval model for both recognition and recall.Psychological Review,91, 1–67.
Glanzer, M., &Cunitz, A. R. (1966). Two storage mechanisms in free recall.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,5, 351–360.
Glenberg, A. M., Bradley, M. M., Kraus, T. A., &Renzaglia, G. J. (1983). Studies of the long-term recency effect: Support for a contextually guided retrieval hypothesis.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,9, 231–255.
Greene, R. L. (1992).Human memory. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Harper, D. N., McLean, A. P., &Dalrymple-Alford, J. C. (1993). List item memory in rats: Effects of delay and delay task.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,19, 307–316.
Harrison, J. M., Iversen, S. D., &Pratt, S. R. (1977). Control of responding by location of auditory stimuli: Adjacency of sound and response.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,28, 243–251.
Kesner, R. P., &Novak, J. M. (1982). Serial position curve in rats: Role of the dorsal hippocampus.Science,218, 173–175.
Knoedler, A. J., Hellwig, K. A., &Neath, I. (1999). The shift from recency to primacy with increasing delay.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,25, 474–487.
Korsnes, M. S. (1995). Retention intervals and serial list memory.Perceptual & Motor Skills,80, 723–731.
Korsnes, M. S., &Magnussen, S. (1996). Age comparisons of serial position effects in short-term memory.Acta Psychologica,94, 133–143.
Korsnes, M. S., Magnussen, S., &Reinvang, I. (1996). Serial position effects in visual short-term memory for words and abstract spatial patterns.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology,37, 62–73.
Neath, I. (1993). Distinctiveness and serial position effects in recognition.Memory & Cognition,21, 689–698.
Neath, I., &Knoedler, A. J. (1994). Distinctiveness and serial position effects in recognition and sentence processing.Journal of Memory & Language,33, 776–795.
Postman, L., &Phillips, L. (1965). Short-term temporal changes in free-recall.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,17, 132–138.
Postman, L., Stark, K., &Fraser, J. (1968). Temporal changes in interference.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,7, 672–694.
Reed, P., Croft, H., &Yeomans, M. (1996). Rats’ memory for serially presented novel flavours: Evidence for non-spatial primacy effects.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,49B, 174–187.
Roberts, W. A., &Kraemer, P. J. (1981). Recognition memory for lists of visual stimuli in monkeys and humans.Animal Learning & Behavior,9, 587–594.
Roediger, H. L., III, &Crowder, R. G. (1976). A serial position effect in recall of United States presidents.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,8, 275–278.
Rundus, D. (1971). Analysis of rehearsal processes in free recall.Journal of Experimental Psychology,89, 63–77.
Sands, S. F., &Wright, A. A. (1980a). Primate memory: Retention of serial list items by a rhesus monkey.Science,209, 938–940.
Sands, S. F., &Wright, A. A. (1980b). Serial probe recognition performance by a rhesus monkey and a human with 10- and 20-item lists.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,6, 386–396.
Santiago, H. C., &Wright, A. A. (1984). Pigeon memory: Same/different concept learning, serial probe recognition acquisition and probe delay effects in the serial position function.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,10, 498–512.
Shapiro, K. L., Jacobs, W. J., &LoLordo, V. M. (1980). Stimulus-reinforcer interactions in Pavlovian conditioning of pigeons: Implications for selective associations.Animal Learning & Behavior,8, 586–594.
Surprenant, A. M. (2001). Distinctiveness and serial position effects in tonal sequences.Perception & Psychophysics,63, 737–745.
Wright, A. A. (1998a). Auditory and visual serial position functions obey different laws.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,5, 564–584.
Wright, A. A. (1998b). Auditory list memory in rhesus monkeys.Psychological Science,9, 91–98.
Wright, A. A. (1999a). Auditory list memory and interference in monkeys.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,25, 284–296.
Wright, A. A. (1999b). Visual list memory in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).Journal of Comparative Psychology,113, 74–80.
Wright, A. A., Cook, R. G., Rivera, J. J., Shyan, M. R., Neiworth, J. J., &Jitsumori, M. (1990). Naming, rehearsal, and interstimulus interval effects in memory processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 1043–1059.
Wright, A. A., &Rivera, J. J. (1997). Memory of auditory lists by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,23, 1–9.
Wright, A. A., &Roediger, H. L., III (2002).Interference processes in monkey auditory list memory. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Wright, A. A., Santiago, H. C., &Sands, S. F. (1984). Monkey memory: Same/different concept learning, serial probe acquisition, and probe delay effects.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,10, 513–529.
Wright, A. A., Santiago, H. C., Sands, S. F., Kendrick, D. F., &Cook, R. G. (1985). Memory processing of serial lists by pigeons, monkeys, and people.Science,229, 287–289.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by PHS Grants DA-10715 and MH-54167. The author gratefully acknowledges the careful assistance of Jackie Rivera.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wright, A.A. Monkey auditory list memory: tests with mixed and blocked retention delays. Animal Learning & Behavior 30, 158–164 (2002). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192917
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192917