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Concept information

Preferred term

Brown-Peterson task  

Definition(s)

  • Experimental technique for the study of forgetting in short-term memory which is also used as a measure of the central executive of working memory (Brown, 1958; Peterson & Peterson, 1959). The task consists of presenting subjects with sequences of three consonants. After the presentation of each series, the subject has to perform either an immediate recall of the consonants, or a counting backwards task starting from a three-digit number. The duration of this counting task varies from 3 to 18 seconds. Immediate recall gives an excellent memory of each series of three consonants. However, the counting task disrupts memory. After a 3-second interval occupied by this task, 80% of the items are recalled, and less than 10% after a 18-second interval.

Belongs to group

Bibliographic citation(s)

  • • Brown, J. (1958). Some tests of the decay theory of immediate memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 10(1), 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470215808416249

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]

  • • Peterson, L., & Peterson, M. J. (1959). Short-term retention of individual verbal items. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58(3), 193–198. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0049234

    [Study type: empirical study / Access: closed]

Creator

  • Frank Arnould

In other languages

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/P66-XSTMKDMS-M

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