ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the experimental tests of a hypothesis by Cavanagh (1972) within the context of other invariance hypotheses. These invariance hypotheses are a refined version of the total-time hypothesis (TTH) (Cooper & Pantle, 1967), Nevelski’s hypothesis of a constant long-term memory span in terms of bits of information (Kintsch, 1970; Nevelski, 1970), and Baddeley’s phonological loop hypothesis (Baddeley, 1997). The original version of the TTH states that the total learning time needed to obtain the performance criterion of a perfect recitation of material is independent of its presentation time. Therefore, if the presentation time is 10 s and six learning trials are required, the number of learning trials should be two if the presentation time is 30 s. In both cases, the total learning time is 60 s. However, experimental results do not confirm this version of the TTH. Therefore it had to be modified (Bredenkamp, 1993). The refined TTH states that the number of learning trials minus a constant a multiplied by the presentation time is a time constant b. We come back to these constants when considering Equation 1.
