Modality-specific short-term storage for pressure

Trained Ss were required to report whether two consecutive tactile stimuli were delivered to the same or different parts of their arm. The main purpose of the study was to investigate modality-specific memory for pressure. Accuracy of recall was found to be a rapidly decaying function of the stimulus onset asynchrony between the two stimuli, reaching asymptote at about 4 sec. Performance was not affected by an interpolated verbal task. These data, in conjunction with tactile masking effects (Abramsky, Carmon, & Benton, 1971), are consistent with modality-specific sensory memory for pressure stimuli.