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The relationship between end-state comfort effects and memory performance in serial and free recall
S Wood Logan1, Mark G Fischman
1Auburn University, 2050 Memorial Coliseum, Auburn, AL 36849, USA. swl0003@tigermail.auburn.edu
Acta Psychologica
|April 19, 2011
Summary
Physical actions, like moving objects, disrupt memory recall, specifically eliminating the recency effect. This suggests a basic concurrence cost between motor tasks and cognitive processes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Motor Control
Background:
- The end-state comfort effect influences motor task performance by favoring initial movements that lead to comfortable final hand postures.
- Memory recall, particularly serial and free recall, is susceptible to various interference effects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between end-state comfort effects during motor tasks and memory performance in serial and free recall.
- To determine if simpler motor tasks could restore the recency effect in memory recall, which was diminished by complex motor tasks.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Participants performed a bimanual overturned glass task before recalling letters in serial or free recall conditions, assessing end-state comfort and memory recall (primacy/recency effects).
- Experiment 2: Participants completed simpler bimanual or unimanual motor tasks (moving cylinders) before memory recall to test for the reappearance of the recency effect.
Main Results:
- The end-state comfort effect was observed in both memory conditions.
- The recency effect disappeared in both serial and free recall, being more pronounced in serial recall.
- Even after simpler motor tasks, the recency effect remained absent.
Conclusions:
- The disappearance of the recency effect, irrespective of motor task complexity, indicates a reciprocal influence between physical action and cognitive processes.
- This phenomenon is interpreted as a basic concurrence cost, where performing motor tasks interferes with certain aspects of memory recall.
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