Speers, Robert Leslie2025-06-132025-06-131980https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22381In this monograph, the concept of nonverbal memory (NVM) is introduced and it is argued that NVM is an important explanatory construct which is dissociable from related higher-order functions such as perception, learning, and verbal memory. The first four chapters provide comprehensive reviews of the literature relevant to the history and current status of NVM. In subsequent chapters, evidence as to the "nonverbalness" of five types of stimulus material is first surveyed and then these materials are contrasted directly, as to their potential for verbal mediation, in an experimental study. A model for the measurement of NVM is presented and finally, three new clinical tests of NVM are described. The Introduction begins with a working definition of NVM, emphasizing its task-dependent nature and restricting the scope of interest to those studies which include visually presented memoranda, a retention interval, and some stated intent to measure NVM. Within these limits, the reviews are considered to be exhaustive in coverage of both the basic theoretical work and the memory-disorders literature. As such, they constitute the first systematic treatment of the topic of NVM. Chapter 1 presents a brief interpretive summary of how the concept of NVM has been regarded during the history of psychology. Cyclical fluctuations in popularity are described and the major trends which have led to the present revival of interest are identified. The issue of multiple kinds of memory is evaluated next followed by a review of theories and data which suggest that NVM operates in some fundamentally different way from verbal memory. Here, consideration is given to controversial topics of high current interest, such as the existence of a short- term memory stage in NVM and the status of NVM deficits in "amnesic syndrome" patients. The extensive body of literature pertaining to the question of cerebral lateralization for NVM is then evaluated with sources of evidence organized by type of patient population. Several problems with, or arguments against, the viability of the NVM construct are next examined. In the final section of Chapter 4 the argument is advanced that the resolution of all these issues is primarily dependent upon progress in developing better methods of measurement. In the last four chapters, attention is focused mainly upon the problem of designing valid NVM tasks. Five kinds of material are first considered as to their adequacy for use in the construction of NVM tasks. For each material, the typical ways in which the commonly available stimuli have been employed in NVM tasks are reviewed. Particular consideration is given to those factors which may influence the degree of nonverbalness" of each stimulus material. In chapter 6, methods which may be used to attempt to empirically validate memory tasks as being nonverbal in nature are first reviewed briefly. Shortcomings of each of these are indicated and one procedure, communication accuracy, is chosen as the best possibility for further elaboration. An experiment is then described using this method to evaluate the comparative "nonverbalness" of the five kinds of material just presented. The results of this study permit the selection of specific items which appear to be the least amenable to verbal encoding. A discussion of some general principles relevant to the measurement of memory of any kind is presented next. The definition of memory is considered and a simple model is suggested to operationally specify the essential components of a memory task and to dissociate memory from related concepts. Finally, detailed description5 of three new clinical tests of NVM are presented. Each test illustrates ways to minimize the involvement of verbal mediation by following the material selection/arrangement suggestions of chapter 5 and the empirical item analyses of chapter 6. Moreover, these tests also demonstrate how the basic principles of memory measurement, as described in chapter 7, can be operationalized using a variety of NVM materials and procedures.enAvailable to the World Wide WebThesis