Abstract We model word-list learning over sequences of immediate and delayed free recall tasks to study the impact of memory impairment on episodic memory. We use a previously developed Multinomial Processing Tree (MPT) model of encoding, retrieval, and learning (Alexander et al., 2016), and apply it to behavioral data from thousands of patients tested tens of thousands of times in a cognitive disorders clinic. The patients were independently diagnosed, using the Functional Assessment Staging Test (FAST), into six stages of impairment. We apply hierarchical and latent-mixture versions of the MPT model to patients in each FAST stage, exploring individual differences among people and item-position effects across the word lists. Our results show clear and theoretically interpretable regularities in how model parameters change over item positions, corresponding to standard primacy and recency effects in free recall. Accordingly, we develop an extended model that directly incorporates theoretical assumptions about serial position. Inferences from this model allow us to reach conclusions about how learning, encoding, and retrieval processes change as memory impairment progresses.

中文翻译：

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多项处理树模型和贝叶斯方法在理解记忆障碍中的应用

摘要 我们对即时和延迟的自由回忆任务序列上的单词列表学习进行建模，以研究记忆障碍对情景记忆的影响。我们使用先前开发的多项处理树 (MPT) 编码、检索和学习模型（Alexander 等人，2016 年），并将其应用于在认知障碍诊所接受过数万次测试的数千名患者的行为数据。使用功能评估分期测试 (FAST) 将患者独立诊断为六个损伤阶段。我们将 MPT 模型的分层和潜在混合版本应用于每个 FAST 阶段的患者，探索人与人之间的个体差异以及单词列表中的项目位置效应。我们的结果显示了模型参数如何随项目位置变化的清晰且理论上可解释的规律，对应于自由回忆中的标准首要和新近效应。因此，我们开发了一个扩展模型，该模型直接结合了关于序列位置的理论假设。该模型的推论使我们能够得出关于学习、编码和检索过程如何随着记忆障碍的进展而变化的结论。