Abstract
The present investigation was conducted to determine whether subjects could use categorical codes based on semantic memory information (gender of names) to make rapid decisions about the order of names in a linear series. Subjects were taught linear order problems in which 12 names (six male and six female) were either randomly ordered or blocked by sex. The results support a dual-process model which proposes that subjects use both categorical information (discrete linguistic codes) and serial position information when asked to make mental comparisons of arbitrarily ordered items. Furthermore, the data indicate that both the ordinal distance between the terms in the test pair (step size) and the serial position of the test terms in the linear order affect the reaction time to a particular test comparison.
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This report is based on a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree at Bowling Green State University by the first author, and was presented in part at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, Illinois, May 1978.
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Pliske, R.M., Smith, K.H. Semantic categorization in a linear order problem. Memory & Cognition 7, 297–302 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197603
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197603