Phonological similarity and orthographic similarity affect probed serial recall of Chinese characters

Abstract

The previous literature on working memory (WM) has indicated that verbal materials are dominantly retained in phonological representations, whereas other linguistic information (e.g., orthography, semantics) only contributes to verbal WM minimally, if not negligibly. Although accumulating evidence has suggested that multiple linguistic components jointly support verbal WM, the visual/orthographic contribution has rarely been addressed in alphabetic languages, possibly due to the difficulty of dissociating the effects of word forms from the effects of their pronunciations in relatively shallow orthography. In the present study, we examined whether the orthographic representations of Chinese characters support the retention of verbal materials in this language of deep orthography. In Experiments 1a and 2, we independently manipulated the phonological and orthographic similarity of horizontal and vertical characters, respectively, and found that participants' accuracy of probed serial recall was reduced by both similar pronunciations and shared phonetic radicals in the to-be-remembered stimuli. Moreover, Experiment 1b showed that only the effect of phonological, but not that of orthographic, similarity was affected by concurrent articulatory suppression. Taken together, the present results indicate the indispensable contribution of orthographic representations to verbal WM of Chinese characters, and suggest that the linguistic characteristics of a specific language not only determine long-term linguistic-processing mechanisms, but also delineate the organization of verbal WM for that language.

Recalling visual serial order for verbal sequences

“…Moreover, the phonological similarity effect was removed by concurrent articulation, but the visual similarity effect remained intact, or was enhanced when articulatory rehearsal was prevented. Similar findings of independent phonological and visual similarity effects, and selective disruption of phonological but not visual similarity by concurrent articulation, have been reported recently by Lin, Chen, Lai and Wu ( 2015 ) using a probe technique to test memory for serial order of Chinese characters. Further evidence for the use of visual codes in serial recall tasks comes from the finding that serial recall of sequences of matrix patterns (Avons & Mason, 1999 ; Walker, Hitch & Duroe, 1993 ), and of faces (Smyth, Hay, Hitch & Horton, 2005 ) is disrupted when stimuli are visually similar.…”

“…The above findings, and particularly the findings from Saito et al ( 2008 ) and Lin et al ( 2015 ), are consistent with neuropsychological evidence that immediate serial recall based on phonological codes and immediate serial recall based on visual codes might rely on separate, domain-specific temporary memory stores. For example, there are several reports of brain-damaged individuals with a specific impairment of verbal serial-ordered recall who also fail to show disruptive effects of phonological similarity with auditory presentation.…”

“…This was to reduce the possibility of extra-list intrusions in recall and to help reduce the contribution of item-specific information to the retention of serial order, thereby allowing a focus on the manipulations of phonological and visual similarity for immediate serial-ordered recall. We recognize that use of small word pools may reduce but might not completely eliminate item-specific contributions (e.g., Lin et al, 2015 ; Taylor, Macken & Jones, 2015 ). However, different small pools of items were used for each experiment, two in Kanji (modified from Saito et al, 2008 ) and one in English (based on Logie et al, 2000 ), to ensure that any findings cannot be attributed to the idiosyncracies of a specific language or a specific item set.…”

Perspectives on working memory: introduction to the special issue

“…This perhaps echoes some of the effects of temporal grouping explored by Spurgeon et al (2015). Lin, Chen, Lai, and Wu (2015) used a limited set of Chinese characters and demonstrated that both the phonological and orthographic similarity of the items resulted in poorer probed serial recall performance than occurred when the items were phonologically or orthographically distinct. Both of these studies suggest that the physical characteristics of stimuli affect immediate memory for serial order.…”

Converging sources of evidence and theory integration in working memory: A commentary on Morey, Rhodes, and Cowan (2019)

“…Healthy individuals are then thought to have available a temporary representation of the words based on other characteristics such as their visual appearance or their meaning (e.g. Lin, Chen, Lai, & Wu, 2015;Logie, Della Sala, Wynn, & Baddeley, 2000;Logie, Saito, Morita, Varma, & Norris, 2016;Saito, Logie, Morita, & Law, 2008;Tree, Longmore, Majerus, & Evans, 2011). In the case of PV, and for a previous case with similar impairments, KF 1972), as well as the more recent case of CT (Tree & Playfoot, 2019), when words were presented visually, immediate serial ordered recall was better than with auditory presentation.…”