Results and Discussion for Immediate Memory for Letters and Digits

An experiment was conducted to test the immediate memory span for letters and digits. The subject
was tasked to memorize four sets of numbers for each stimulus ranging from 3 to 9 series of
numbers and was allotted 10 seconds for each set after which the subject was to dictate the series
back to the experimenter. A break of five minutes was given followed by the same test, but this time,
with letters.

The subject was able to remember up to seven digits at one go, without making any error, hence the
basal value being 7. The fractional values for series 3 to 7 is 4/4 while for series 8 and 9 it was ¼. For
the immediate memory span for letters, the subject was able to recall up to nine letters at one go
perfectly, therefore the basal value becomes 9. The fractional values for the series of letters from 3 to
9 is 4/4. The immediate memory span for digits is 7.5 and for letters it is 9.

For immediate memory for digits, the subject was able to recall the series from 3 to 5 with ease. As
he reached series 6, he began chunking the numbers in twos and began dictating them in the same
way. He continued with the same method up until series 8. Initially for series 8, he was not able to
recall the first set as he seemed a bit taken aback with the number of digits he had to memorize. As
mentioned, he had to think of a new strategy to memorize the sets. He recalled the second set
perfectly but not for the third and the fourth as he seemed to give up on memorizing them. The
similar phenomena occurred for series 9 but instead of the second set, the subject remembered the
first set perfectly because that time he prepared himself to face a larger set of digits. The subject also
claimed that there were some numbers that he held close to heart.

For the immediate memory span for letters, the subject recalled all the series without much
hesitation or reluctance. For the first three series – series 3 to 5, he was able to dictate the letters as
they were. As he reached series 6, he began to dictate them in threes, he tried to make sense of
certain sets so as to be able to remember them like making up a very catchy non-sensical word or
associating the sound of the letters pronounced together to something from video games or anime.
The subject mentioned that while memorizing the letters, it sounded catchy and “rhymy” and that
the patterns or the arrangement of certain sets helped him memorize to recall. The placement of
two successive alphabets or the way the letters sounded phonetically, complementary, similar or
catchy contributed to the subject’s ability to recall the letters. For the last set of series 9, the subject
got one incorrect due to interchanging the positions of two alphabets which could suggest that the
subject may have gotten excited in the end and while memorizing, subconsciously interchanged the
position of the letters. It could also suggest that as he skimmed the letters in the set, he could have
had a fixed pronunciation or fixed perception of the phonetic sound of the letters collectively.

Comparing the results obtained, the subject seemed to be able to recall letters better than digits.
Through observation, as the experiment progressed for the first half – immediate memory span for
digits, the subject’s interest and focus gradually decreased suggesting that the subject’s mind may
have been overwhelmed or overloaded considering the number of digits required to memorize.
There is also a possibility that the feeling of being overwhelmed may have aggregated to the
subject’s seemingly overloaded memory, causing him to lose the momentum or to give up. But for
immediate memory span for letters, the subject’s interest peaked. His enthusiasm was slightly
noticeable. As the number of letters increased, he dictated the letters in a sing song manner in
threes, and sometimes even chunking them into non-sensical words that could make some kind of
sense paired with some kind of acronyms.in the end, the subject declared that letters were easier to
recall rather than digits because the patterns, pronunciation and the “rhymyness” was better and
easier.
Also, in research conducted by Richard Schweickert in 1993 for Memory and Cognition in regards to a
multinomial processing tree model for degradation and redintegration in immediate recall, it was
mentioned that when it came to immediate recall a verbal trace would be formed which was
bifurcated into a phoneme string – phonological similarity, and attempts to form a word – lexicality in
order to memorize. This verbal trace would then be useless after about 2 seconds or such. This
explains how or why an individual may be able to recall either digits or letters better and in the case
of the subject in discussion of the experiment conducted, the subject was able to create that verbal
trace more efficiently for letters than what he could for digits.

In graph 4.1, the subject is seen to have a higher memory span of 9 for letters than that for digits,
which is 7.5 thus, implying that the subject memorized more letters than digits therefore concluding
that he recalled letters better than digits.

Conclusion

Hence, the hypothesis stating that the span of attention is higher for digits as compared to letters, is
rejected.