Janet D. Larsen

Disruption of verbal STM by irrelevant speech, articulatory suppression, and manual tapping: Do they have a common source?

Under appropriate conditions, immediate serial verbal recall is impaired by irrelevant speech, articulatory suppression, and syncopated tapping. Interpretation of these variables in terms of the phonological loop component of working memory assumes separate phonological storage and articulatory rehearsal processes. In contrast, the Object-Oriented Episodic Record (O-OER) of Jones and the feature theory of Neath interpret these and other phenomena in terms of a unitary multimodal system. Three experiments investigate these disrupting tasks, with each experiment emphasizing one parameter. In each case, recall of phonologically similar and dissimilar letter sequences is compared as a marker of the presence or absence of phonological coding. In Experiment 1, subjects heard or articulated a single item, or tapped a single key at equal intervals. Only articulatory suppression impaired performance; it also abolished the effects of phonological similarity. Experiment 2 was identical, except that items were heard, or generated in a syncopated rhythm. Both suppression and tapping impaired performance to an equivalent extent and obliterated the effect of phonological similarity. Syncopated irrelevant speech caused a modest but significant impairment in performance. Experiment 3 was identical to Experiment 1, except that six tokens were used. Irrelevant speech and tapping had a clear impact on recall, but neither removed the phonological similarity effect. Again articulatory suppression had a major impact on performance and removed the effect of phonological similarity. We conclude that the pattern of results readily fits the phonological loop hypothesis, provided one accepts Saitos proposal that generating syncopated sequences uses common processes with speech production. It is not clear how the results can be explained by either the O-OER or the feature hypothesis.

Phonological similarity and the irrelevant speech effect: Implications for models of short-term verbal memory.

Three experiments studied the interaction between irrelevant speech and phonological similarity within both the remembered and the irrelevant auditory material. Phonological similarity within the remembered list impaired performance in both baseline and irrelevant speech conditions, whereas phonological similarity between the remembered and ignored irrelevant items did not influence performance. Although there was a tendency for similarity within the irrelevant items to reduce interference, this proved to be a less robust finding. Implications for the theoretical interpretation of the irrelevant speech effect are discussed.

Associations between dementia/mild cognitive impairment and cognitive performance and activity levels in youth

Objectives: To study the associations between dementia/mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitive performance and activity levels in youth.

The phonological loop unmasked? A comment on the evidence for a "perceptual-gestural" alternative

Jones et al. (Jones, Hughes, & Macken, 2006; Jones, Macken, & Nicholls, 2004) identify the interaction between phonological similarity, articulatory suppression, and stimulus presentation mode in verbal short-term memory as potentially providing important support for the phonological loop hypothesis. They find such an interaction but attribute it to “perceptual organization masquerading as phonological storage”. We present data using shorter letter sequences and find clear evidence of the interaction predicted by the phonological loop hypothesis, which, unlike the evidence of Jones et al., is not limited to recency, and which provides continued support for the phonological loop hypothesis.

The phonological loop: Some answers and some questions

Jones, Hughes, and Macken (2007) claim that their data and our own are inconsistent with a multicomponent working-memory model. We explain in greater detail how the model can account for the data and can address their more specific criticisms. Both sides accept that data relating to the presence of a phonological similarity effect throughout the list depend on list length. We accept that, at this point, all explanations of their interaction are speculative and require further empirical investigation. We examine J, H, & Ms interpretation of their and our results in terms of an auditory modality effect, observing that their interpretation of this effect is not well supported by the literature. We suggest that their account assumes a very narrow basis for a general theory of short-term retention, in contrast to a phonological loop interpretation, which forms part of a well-developed and articulated model of working memory.

A SEMANTIC PRIMING TEST OF BILINGUAL LANGUAGE STORAGE AND THE COMPOUND VS COORDINATE BILINGUAL DISTINCTION WITH LATVIAN-ENGLISH BILINGUALS

The unified and separate storage models of bilingual language storage and the compound vs coordinate bilingual distinction were tested with a semantic priming test using 47 Latvian-English bilinguals, some of whom learned the two languages at the same time and in the same environment and some of whom learned the two languages at different times and in different environments. Subjects named target words in their two languages, preceded by related or unrelated words in the same or a different language. Analyses of naming latencies provided no evidence of the compound vs coordinate distinction; however, results provided evidence favoring the separate storage model and suggested that seeing a word in a one language prepared the person to say another word in the same language.

Image-Formation Time is Not Related to Recall of Bizarre and Plausible Images:

Past studies of bizarre imagery in which image-formation time is reported have not directly investigated the potential relation of that measure to recall. In the present study, 50 subjects spontaneously formed images from pairs of words to test the idea that quickly formed images are recalled more often. There was no relationship between image-formation time and recall. Image bizarreness and image interaction did not facilitate recall, and there were no differences in the times required to form bizarre and plausible images. The latter findings, which are inconsistent with much of the past research, may be the result of allowing subjects to form images spontaneously, rather than specifying the image to be formed.

Personality dimensions and memory as measured by signal detection

Abstract This study examined the effect of anxiety, extraversion/introversion, and neuroticism on recognition memory using signal detection measures. Subjects were either observed or not observed while performing a recognition memory task. Observation was intended to make subjects more anxious, but the State-Trait Anxiety Scale showed that the manipulation failed to do so.Task difficulty was the same for various personality types, but extraversion and neuroticism were found to be related to using a more lax decision criterion on the recognition memory task.

WINGS IN THE INTERSHAFT SPACE CONTRIBUTE TO THE MUELLER-LYER ILLUSION

The interference of the wings of the wings-in part of the Mueller-Lyer figure was examined for the version of the illusion in which one part of the figure is placed above the other. Wings were removed in pairs from either above or below the shaft of one of the two parts of the figure. Subjects indicated the apparent difference between the lengths of the shafts of the two parts of the figure. Removal of the wings between the shafts of the wings-in part of the figure reduced the amount of the illusion more than removal of the wings from outside the shafts. Removing wings from the wings-out part of the figure reduced the amount of illusion, but it made no difference whether the wing removal occurred between or outside the shafts.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEX-ROLE AND MORAL DECISION-MAKING '

This study was done to assess whether sex-role influences moral decision-making. 71 subjects took the Bem Sex-role Inventory and a multiple-choice questionnaire based on Kohlbergs moral dilemmas. Researchers predicted that masculine subjects would base their answers to Kohlbergs dilemmas on law-and-order type justice, feminine subjects would base their answers on empathy and caring for others, and androgynous and undifferentiated subjects would select both law and empathy based responses. Sex-role was not significantly related to moral decision-making.