Memory Test

My guinea pig is a native Chinese speaker. When I asked him to recall numbers in English,he expressed his difficulty to translate the numbers from English to Chinese. The result shows that there were some missing digits or switching digits in his recalls. In these five sets of numbers, the first two digits were all correct, and also the last two digits of the first three sets. However, he could not recall a couple of last digits in the 12 digit recall. The primacy effect was apparent here, but the recency effect did not show in the long serial recall. The possible explanation is that in the serial recall, he didn’t only need to remember the numbers but also their positions in the list. This took space in his working memory.

Besides reading the numbers in English, I also tested him in Chinese. This time, he almost recalled all the numbers correctly except few minor errors. Surprisingly, he even got the 12-digit numbers correct. In addition to the proficiency and familiarity with the native language, one of my observations is that Chinese only has single syllable for each number (from 0 to 10); on the other hand, several English numbers have more than one syllable. Therefore, he could store more Chinese numbers in his working memory.

While recalling letters, he had no problem with remembering 6 and 8 letters correctly. The primacy effect also worked here, but the recency effect did not show in the 13-letter recall. The most difficult one is the one has fewer vowels. It may be due to the difficulty of making up words and chunking them with only consonants.

When recalling words, he had no problem with remembering the first two and the last one or two words (primacy and recency). The words in the middle can be easily switched or missed, especially the ones before the last two words. The last sentence was the easiest for him to recall except two or three minor errors. We can see that when items make meaning in our mind, it is easier to recall.

Generally speaking, the numbers of unit that he can remember approximately followed the 7± 2 rule. One of the exceptions was when he lost his attention and only recalled one or two unites. Another is the last sentence that has meaning and easy for him to recall most of it.