The modality effect in free and serial recall as a function of phonological similarity

Watkins, Michael J.; Watkins, Olga C.; Crowder, Robert G.

doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(74)80021-6

Cited by 143 publications

(126 citation statements)

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“…As we have seen, all of the acoustic suffixes in the present two experiments caused such an effect. Moreover, the presence of auditory information must surely be responsible for the fact that recall of auditorily presented lists is superior to that of visually presented lists in the last few serial positions (Watkins, Watkins, & Crowder, 1974), and for the fact that reading aloud a visually presented list has the same effect (Murray, 1966).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The stimulus suffix effect as a memory coding phenomenon

1978

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Two short-term memory experiments examined the nature of the stimulus suffix effect on auditory linguistic and nonlinguistic stimulus lists. In Experiment 1, where subjects recalled eight-item digit lists, it was found that a silently articulated digit suffix had the same effect on recall for the last list item as a spoken digit suffix. In Experiment 2, subjects recalled lists of sounds made by inanimate objects either by listing the names of the objects or by ordering a set of drawings of the objects. Auditory suffixes, either another object sound or the spoken name of an object, produced a suffix effect under both recall conditions, but a visually presented picture also produced a suffix effect when subjects recalled using pictures. The results were most adequately explained by a levels-of-processing memory coding hypothesis.When subjects are asked to recall items from a list that exceeds the capacity of short-term memory, they typically show a bowed serial position function. That is, recall is better on the first few (the primacy effect) and on the last one or two (the recency effect) list items than on intermediate items. However, under auditory presentation conditions, the addition of one extra item at the end of the list impairs recall for the terminal items, even when subjects are instructed to ignore this suffix and omit it from their recall of the list. This elimination of the recency effect is known as the stimulus suffix effect (Crowder, 1967;Crowder & Morton, 1969). Crowder and Morton (1969;Morton, Crowder, & Prussin, 1971) have suggested a theoretical explanation of the suffix and recency effects based on the precategorical acoustic store (PAS). PAS is a sensory storage system that may last for as long as 2 sec, and that contains auditory information in a relatively unprocessed form. Under normal list presentation conditions, the last one or two elements of the list remain in PAS at the time of recall, giving the subject an added source of information upon which to base his recall of these items. However, a stimulus suffix eliminates most, if not all, of the sensory information about the last list elements from PAS, making recall of them equal to intermediate list items whose traces have also been eliminated from PAS.This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant BNS76-82337 to the first author and a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Participation fellowship to the second author. The authors wish to acknowledge Peter D. Eimas both for providing assistance in the production of the stimuli for Experiment 2 and for giving helpful comments on many phases of this research, and Ann Lee, who collected the data for Experiment 2. Reprint requests should be addressed to Kathryn T. Spoehr, Psychology Department, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912.The PAS explanation of the suffix effect has been supported by much empirical data. Consonant with this theory, for example, are the findings that nonlinguistic auditory suffixes fail to cause a suffix effect (Crowder, ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The stimulus suffix effect as a memory coding phenomenon

1978

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“…Or, if the auditory lists are composed of items high in phonological similarity, then auditory recency should be reduced (M. J. Watkins, O. C. Watkins, & Crowder, 1974). Finally, for lists of homophones (PEAR, PARE, PAIR), auditory recency should be virtually absent (Crowder, 1978b).…”

Section: Application Of the Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for interpreting recency effects in immediate serial recall

1988

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A descriptive framework is offered for the interpretation of recency effects in immediate serial recall. Basic to the framework is a distinction between two types of trace features: (1) modalitydependent features, which represent the perceptual qualities of presentation, and (2) modalityindependent features, which result from the set of encoding operations known as the "inner voice." Recency and modality effects emerge because certain types of modality-dependent (i.e., languagebased) features are typically not subject to postlist interfering events and are likely to be sampled as discriminative cues in recall. The framework is used to interpret problematic findings in the modality effect literature, such as the effects of visual presentation, lipreading, mouthing, and stimulus class on the recall of recency items.The question of how we remember recently presented information as it recedes backward in time has occupied the attention of memory theorists for some time. The typical finding that items near the end of a list are remembered best has served as an empirical cornerstone for a number of memory issues; for example, the separation between primary and secondary memory stores has relied on variations in the recency effect in free recall for much of its empirical base (see Greene, 1986, for a review). The concern of the present article, however, is with the recency effect in immediate serial recall, a procedure in which subjects are presented with relatively short lists of items to be recalled immediately in the exact order of presentation. Of particular interest is the finding that the size of the recency effect in immediate serial recall is dramatically affected by the specific modality of stimulus presentation. The modality effect, as it is termed, refers to the fact that recency performance is enhanced for auditorally presented items relative to silent visual controls (Conrad

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“…Sometimes a beneficial effect is observed (Gathercole, Gardiner, & Gregg, 1982;Wickelgren, 1965), sometimes, no effect is observed (Poirier & Saint-Aubin, 1996;Watkins et al, 1974); and some studies show a detrimental effect (Coltheart, 1993;Drewnowski, 1980) The dimension that appears most relevant for discriminating between these studies is the operationalisation of phonological similarity. The studies that demonstrated beneficial effects operationalised phonological similarity in terms of items from rhyme categories.…”

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“…can mad cap man cad cat map mat). The one study Phonological similarity 6 (Watkins et al, 1974) that demonstrated a null effect used a mixture of rhyming and non-rhyming items in their similar lists. Given these findings, one might conclude that a beneficial effect of phonological similarity only occurs when rhyming items are used.…”

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Phonological Similarity and Trace Degradation in the Serial Recall Task: When CAT helps RAT, but not MAN

1999

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Phonological similarity is observed to affect serial recall detrimentally when correct‐in‐position scoring is used. Two experiments investigated the role of item and position accuracy scoring of rhyming, similar nonrhyming, and dissimilar lists under immediate recall conditions; articulatory suppression; or a filled delay. In general, rhyme lists produced the best item recall but position accuracy was highest for dissimilar lists. The results are due to a category cueing effect improving item recall for rhyme lists in conjunction with a detrimental effect of phonological similarity on position accuracy.

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The modality effect in free and serial recall as a function of phonological similarity

Cited by 143 publications

References 49 publications

The stimulus suffix effect as a memory coding phenomenon

The stimulus suffix effect as a memory coding phenomenon

A framework for interpreting recency effects in immediate serial recall

Phonological Similarity and Trace Degradation in the Serial Recall Task: When CAT helps RAT, but not MAN

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