Mahrer Paul, Miles Christopher
Cardiff University, UK.
Memory. 2002 Jan;10(1):7-20. doi: 10.1080/09658210143000128.
In three experiments participants were required to compare the similarity in item order for two temporally separated sequences of tactile stimuli presented to the fingers of the hand. Between-sequence articulatory suppression but not tactile interference impaired recognition accuracy (Experiment 1), and the null effect of tactile interference was not due to the second tactile sequence overwriting the sensory record of the first sequence (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 showed that compared to a condition where the second sequence was presented in the tactile modality only, recognition was enhanced when the second sequence was seen presented either to the hand or on a diagrammatic representation of a hand. A final experiment showed that the effects of Experiment 1 were replicated when the underside of the forearm was used for stimulus presentation, suggesting that the data are not idiosyncratic to the first method of presentation. The pattern of results suggests memory for a sequence of tactile stimuli involves the deployment of strategies utilising a combination of verbal rehearsal and visuo-spatial recoding rather than relying solely on the retention of sensory traces. This is taken to reflect limitations in both the capacity and duration of tactile sensory memory.
在三项实验中，要求参与者比较呈现给手部手指的两个时间上分开的触觉刺激序列在项目顺序上的相似性。序列间的言语抑制而非触觉干扰会损害识别准确性（实验1），且触觉干扰的无效效应并非由于第二个触觉序列覆盖了第一个序列的感觉记录（实验2）。实验3表明，与仅以触觉方式呈现第二个序列的情况相比，当第二个序列呈现给手部或手部的示意图时，识别能力会增强。最后一项实验表明，当前臂下侧用于刺激呈现时，实验1的效果得以重复，这表明这些数据并非第一种呈现方法所特有的。结果模式表明，对一系列触觉刺激的记忆涉及运用言语复述和视觉空间重新编码相结合的策略，而不是仅仅依赖于感觉痕迹的保留。这被认为反映了触觉感觉记忆在容量和持续时间上的局限性。
