scholarly journals Rate of presentation and the acoustic similarity effect in short-term memory

1966 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 233-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Conrad ◽  
A. D. Baddeley ◽  
A. J. Hull
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Similarity Effect

How Does Acoustic Similarity Influence Short-Term Memory?

1968 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Listening Test ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Retrieval Cues ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
And Control

This study attempts to discover why items which are similar in sound are hard to recall in a short-term memory situation. The input, storage, and retrieval stages of the memory system are examined separately. Experiments I, II and III use a modification of the Peterson and Peterson technique to plot short-term forgetting curves for sequences of acoustically similar and control words. If acoustically similar sequences are stored less efficiently, they should be forgotten more rapidly. All three experiments show a parallel rate of forgetting for acoustically similar and control sequences, suggesting that the acoustic similarity effect does not occur during storage. Two input hypotheses are then examined, one involving a simple sensory trace, the other an overloading of a system which must both discriminate and memorize at the same time. Both predict that short-term memory for spoken word sequences should deteriorate when the level of background noise is increased. Subjects performed both a listening test and a memory test in which they attempted to recall sequences of five words. Noise impaired performance on the listening test but had no significant effect on retention, thus supporting neither of the input hypotheses. The final experiments studied two retrieval hypotheses. The first of these, Wickelgren's phonemic-associative hypotheses attributes the acoustic similarity effect to inter-item associations. It predicts that, when sequences comprising a mixture of similar and dissimilar items are recalled, errors should follow acoustically similar items. The second hypothesis attributes the effect to the overloading of retrieval cues which consequently do not discriminate adequately among available responses. It predicts maximum error rate on, not following, similar items. Two experiments were performed, one involving recall of visually presented letter sequences, the other of auditorily presented word sequences. Both showed a marked tendency for errors to coincide with acoustically similar items, as the second hypothesis would predict. It is suggested that the acoustic similarity effect occurs at retrieval and is due to the overloading of retrieval cues.

Memory Confusions and Memory Codes: A Simulation of the Acoustic Similarity Effect

1975 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Legge ◽  
Zofia M. Kaminska
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Response Monitoring ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Monitoring Modality ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Memory Codes

It is hypothesized that items are coded for short-term storage in the language of the modality through which the customary responses to these items are normally monitored. This Response Monitoring Modality Hypothesis may account for the acoustic similarity effect in short-term memory for verbal items. The hypothesis was tested using non-verbal material. After paired-associate training subjects were found to confuse, in retention tests, items sharing similar previously trained responses to a greater extent than items that were directly similar to one another. The experiment simulates under controlled conditions the natural phenomenon of acoustical confusions in short-term memory, and provides strong support for the Response Monitoring Modality Hypothesis.

Short-term Memory for Word Sequences as a Function of Acoustic, Semantic and Formal Similarity

1966 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Auditory Presentation ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Formal Similarity ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Reliable Effect ◽  
Similar Letter ◽  
Similarity Effect

Experiment I studied short-term memory (STM) for auditorily presented five word sequences as a function of acoustic and semantic similarity. There was a large adverse effect of acoustic similarity on STM (72·5 per cent.) which was significantly greater (p < 0·001) than the small (6·3 per cent.) but reliable effect (p < 0·05) of semantic similarity. Experiment II compared STM for sequences of words which had a similar letter structure (formal similarity) but were pronounced differently, with acoustically similar but formally dissimilar words and with control sequences. There was a significant effect of acoustic but not of formal similarity. Experiment III replicated the acoustic similarity effect found in Experiment I using visual instead of auditory presentation. Again a large and significant effect of acoustic similarity was shown.

The Effect of Visual and Acoustic Similarity on Short-Term Memory for Chinese Words

1978 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 487-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wai Fong Yik
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Visual Similarity ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Basic Process ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Verbal Stimuli ◽  
Visual Encoding ◽  
Memory Experiment ◽  
Similarity Effect

Four lists of Chinese words in a 2 × 2 factorial design of visual and acoustic similarity were used in a short-term memory experiment. In addition to a strong acoustic similarity effect, a highly significant visual similarity effect was also obtained. This was particularly pronounced in the absence of acoustic similarity in the words used. The results not only confirm acoustic encoding to be a basic process in short-term recall of verbal stimuli in a language other than English but also lend support to the growing evidence of visual encoding in short-term memory as the situation demands.

Order and Item Information in Short-Term Reordering of Letters

1975 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 971-976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert J. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Presentation Rate ◽  
Item Information ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Original Order

Subsequent to seeing a sequence of eight letters, 66 subjects were presented with the same letters in a jumbled order. Their task was to reconstruct the original order from the jumbled display. The acoustic similarity of the items as well as the rate of presentation was experimentally manipulated. A decrement in performance for sequences of acoustically similar items, as compared to those consisting of acoustically distinct items, increased as presentation rate decreased. The results were explained in terms of the processing of information about order and the acoustic nature of item information in short-term memory.

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