In the Brown-Peterson task,
A)maintenance rehearsal is reversed.
B)the secondary task creates interference, making the to-be-remembered items less likely to be in working memory.
C)the secondary task creates a word-length effect, which causes massive forgetting.
D)the primacy effect is negated.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Brown-Peterson task is designed to test the duration of working memory by having participants remember a series of items and then perform a secondary task that interferes with their ability to maintain the items in working memory. By including a distractor task, such as counting backwards by threes, interference is created and the participant is less likely to maintain the items in working memory for a longer period of time. This helps to demonstrate the limited capacity of working memory. Option A is incorrect because maintenance rehearsal is not reversed in the Brown-Peterson task. Option C is incorrect because the word-length effect is not demonstrated in this task. Option D is incorrect because the primacy effect can still be present even in the presence of interference, although it may be diminished.

In the Brown-Peterson Task