Is the word length effect in STM entirely attributable to output delay? Evidence from serial recognition

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Baddeley ◽  
Dino Chincotta ◽  
Lorenzo Stafford ◽  
David Turk
Keyword(s):  
Word Length ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Auditory Presentation ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Output Factors ◽  
Output Delay

Although it is generally accepted that the word length effect in short-term memory operates through output delay or interference, there is less agreement on whether it also influences performance through its impact on rehearsal. We investigated this issue by studying the effect of word length on recall and on a recognition task in which output delay was controlled. Word sequences were repeated exactly, or with one pair of words reversed. Two experiments using auditory presentation showed clear word length effects for both recall and serial recognition, although the magnitude of the effect tended to be less for recognition. A third experiment using visual presentation studied the effect of articulatory suppression during the recognition test; again we found a clear word length effect. It is concluded that the word length effect can influence retention through both rehearsal and output factors, as proposed by the phonological loop hypothesis.

The Word-length Effect and Disyllabic Words

2000 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lovatt ◽  
S.E. Avons ◽  
Jackie Masterson
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Semantic Associations ◽  
Disyllabic Words

Three experiments compared immediate serial recall of disyllabic words that differed on spoken duration. Two sets of long- and short-duration words were selected, in each case maximizing duration differences but matching for frequency, familiarity, phonological similarity, and number of phonemes, and controlling for semantic associations. Serial recall measures were obtained using auditory and visual presentation and spoken and picture-pointing recall. In Experiments 1a and 1b, using the first set of items, long words were better recalled than short words. In Experiments 2a and 2b, using the second set of items, no difference was found between long and short disyllabic words. Experiment 3 confirmed the large advantage for short-duration words in the word set originally selected by Baddeley, Thomson, and Buchanan (1975). These findings suggest that there is no reliable advantage for short-duration disyllables in span tasks, and that previous accounts of a word-length effect in disyllables are based on accidental differences between list items. The failure to find an effect of word duration casts doubt on theories that propose that the capacity of memory span is determined by the duration of list items or the decay rate of phonological information in short-term memory.

The Word-Length Effect in Probed and Serial Recall

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. Avons ◽  
K. L. Wright ◽  
Kristen Pammer
Keyword(s):  
Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Recency Effect ◽  
Auditory Presentation ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Encoding Strategies ◽  
Serial Position Curves

The word-length effect in immediate serial recall has been explained as the possible consequence of rehearsal processes or of output processes. In the first experiment adult subjects heard lists of five long or short words while engaging in articulatory suppression during presentation. Full serial recall or probed recall for a single item followed the list either immediately or after a 5-second delay to encourage rehearsal. The word-length effect was not influenced by recall delay, but was much smaller in probed than in serial recall. Examination of the serial position curves suggested that this might be due to a recency component operating in probed recall. Experiment 2 confirmed a word-length-insensitive recency effect in probed recall and showed that this was resistant to an auditory suffix, unlike the small recency effect found in serial recall. Experiment 3 used visual presentation without concurrent articulation. Under these conditions there was no recency effect for either recall method, but the word-length effect was again much smaller in probed than in serial recall. This was confirmed in Experiment 4, in which the presentation of serial and probed recall was randomized across trials, showing that the differences between recall methods could not be due to encoding strategies. We conclude that for visual presentation, at least part of the word-length effect originates in output processes. For auditory presentation the position is less clear, as serial and probed recall appear to draw on different resources. The nature of the output processes that may give rise to word-length effects is discussed.

Unimpaired Short-term Memory and Rhyme Judgement in Congenitally Speechless Individuals: Implications for the Notion of “Articulatory Coding”

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. V. M. Bishop ◽  
J. Robson
Keyword(s):  
Word Length ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Phonological Similarity Effect ◽  
Similarity Effect

In normal adults, concurrent articulation impairs short-term memory, abolishing both the phonological similarity effect and the word length effect when visual presentation is used. It also interferes with ability to judge whether visually presented words rhyme. It is generally assumed that concurrent articulation impairs performance because it prevents people from recoding material into an articulatory form. If this is the explanation, then individuals who are congenitally speechless (anarthric) or speech-impaired (dysarthric) should show the same impairments as normal individuals who are concurrently articulating—i.e. they should have reduced memory spans, fail to show word length and phonological similarity effects in short-term memory, and find rhyme judgement difficult. These predictions were tested in a study of 48 cerebral palsied individuals: 12 anarthric, 12 dysarthric, and 24 controls individually matched to the speech-impaired subjects. There was no impairment of memory span in speech-impaired subjects, who showed normal phonological similarity and word-length effects in short-term memory. Speech-impaired subjects did not differ from their controls in ability to tell whether names of pairs of pictures rhymed. These results challenge the notion that “articulatory coding” is implicated in short-term memory and rhyme judgement and suggests that processes such as rehearsal and phonemic segmentation involve generation of a more abstract central phonological code.

Characteristics of Spatial Memory Span: Is there an Analogy to the Word Length Effect, Based on Movement Time?

1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary M. Smyth ◽  
Keith A. Scholey
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Movement Time ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Spatial Span ◽  
Immediate Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect

In studies of verbal short-term memory it has been shown that the length of words to be remembered affects the size of memory span. This word-length effect is attributed to relationships between the rate of rehearsal of verbal material and the time it takes to speak the words being rehearsed. For spatial memory span there may also be an internal rehearsal system linked to overt responding, and if there is a strong analogy to be drawn between the verbal and spatial domains then movement time between spatial targets should predict the number of spatial locations that can be recalled. In the experiments reported here the time taken to move between spatial targets is varied by altering the size of targets and the distance between them. No difference between span performance on a nine-block spatial span task were found, either on immediate recall or on recall after an interval. When recall is of items from an array of 27, grouped in nine sets of three, with only one location in any set being presented on any trial, there is an effect of display size. This effect is consonant with the argument that movement time is related to spatial rehearsal, but other explanations are also possible. However, if recall in this task is scored over the nine sets rather than over the 27 items, then there is no difference between the displays. The results indicate that performance on the normal nine-block spatial-span task cannot be predicted by movement time.

scholarly journals Reexamination of Word Length Effect: Immediate Serial Recall of Foreign Words

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Junichiro Takeno ◽  
Ken Tamai ◽  
Shigenobu Takatsuka
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Word Length ◽  
Phonological Loop ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Position Effects ◽  
Serial Position Effects ◽  
Immediate Serial Recall ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Effective Use

In this study we examined the word length effect—one characteristic of the phonological loop of working memory—in a foreign language. Serial position effects, such as the primacy effect and the recency effect, were observed in the recall of foreign words, similar to results in L1 studies. Recall of long (one-syllable) and short (three-syllable) words in pure (all long or all short) and mixed (long and short) lists was compared. In pure lists, there was a tendency for long words to be more poorly remembered than short words, which we considered to be because of the word length effect. In mixed lists, both long and short words were recalled equally as well as short words were recalled in pure lists. These results indicate that we should pay more attention to item distinctiveness, which elicits the attention of the central executive in working memory, as well as the word length effect in regards to rehearsal speed. Effective use of the phonological loop in listening comprehension is also discussed. 本研究は、ワーキングメモリモデルの音韻ループに見られる語長効果について再検討を試みたものである。外国語の単語記銘においても、母国語話者を対象とした研究と同じように初頭効果や新近性効果が確認された。単純リストと混合リストにおける長い語と短い語の再生率を比較したところ、単純リストでは、長い語は短い語よりも再生率が悪くなるという語長効果の傾向が見られるものの、混合リストにおいては、長い語も短い語も単純リストにおける短い語と同程度の再生率であった。これらの結果は、短期記憶容量は決められた項目数ではなく復唱速度が重要な要因であるという語長効果に基づく説明に加えて、ワーキングメモリの中央実行系に注意喚起を促す、項目の示差性などによる説明の必要性があることを示している。本研究では、聴解における音韻ループの効果的な活用についても論じている。

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