Nonhuman short-term memory: A quantitative reanalysis of selected findings

Intense interest in the experimental analysis of nonhuman short-term memory was occasioned by the "cognitive revolution" in the early 1970s. As researchers tested and refined their theoretical models, a sizable empirical literature on the subject rapidly emerged. Generally missing from that literature, however, is an integrated account of the empirical laws of delayed stimulus control. In its absence, cognitive theories have grown increasingly complex and their connection to established principles of learning more remote. The present article reviews a representative segment of the nonhuman memory literature in an effort to identify and tentatively quantify empirical laws that may underlie some of the major findings. Specifically, a delay-reduction principle adapted from the conditioned reinforcement literature and a proposed principle of serial stimulus compounds were evaluated against data from delayed matching to sample, serial probe recognition, differential outcome, directed forgetting, and surprisingness preparations. Although by no means offering a complete description of the data, the proposed analysis organizes an apparently disparate collection of empirical results and suggests several new lines of inquiry into the subject.