Evaluating the Evidence for a Dissociation Between Speech and Emotion Effects in Short-Term Memory

Abstract

Performance in visual serial recall tasks is often impaired by irrelevant auditory distracters.The duplex-mechanism account of auditory distraction states that if the distracters provide order cues, these interfere with the processing of the order cues in the main task (interference by process). In contrast, the attention-diversion account states that distracters capture only attention on a general level without interfering specifically with order processing. Marsh et al. (2018, Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 44, 882-897) reported finding a dissociation between the effects of serial recall tasks and those of a missing-item task on the disruptive effects of speech and of emotional words, as predicted by the duplex-mechanism account. Critically, the reported analyses did not test specifically for this dissociation. To address this issue, I re-analyzed the Marsh et al. data and added Bayesian hypothesis tests to measure the strength of the evidence for a dissociation. Results provided strong evidence for a dissociation. Because the duplex-mechanism account predicts this dissociation whereas the attention-diversion account does not, Marsh et al.'s data support the duplex-mechanism account. Accordingly, impairment on serial recall tasks by auditory distracters results from interference by process and from attentional diversion.