Abstract
Posnefs method of using differences in RT for physical and name matches to estimate the time constant of visual STM is criticized as confounding the decay of the visual trace with the development of a name code. When this confounding is avoided by using stimuli that are hard to name (a 5 by 5 matrix of randomly filled squares), the time constant shown by both RT and errors is consistently longer than that reported by Posner.
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The authors are grateful for financial support to the Medical Research Council. The computer facilities were made available through a grant from the Science Research Council.
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Phillips, W.A., Baddeley, A.D. Reaction time and short-term visual memory. Psychon Sci 22, 73–74 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332500
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332500