Word length effects in long-term memory

Tehan, Gerald; Tolan, Georgina Anne

doi:10.1016/j.jml.2006.08.015

Cited by 29 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 47 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These similar patterns of rehearsal in the two tasks complexity to the word length effect (Neath & Nairne, 1995). However, regardless of the preferred alternative, our data must surely be consistent with factors other than solely differential rehearsal's contributing to the word length effect (e.g., Brown & Hulme, 1995;Hulme et al, 2006;Hulme et al, 2004;Lewandowsky & Farrell, 2000;Lewandowsky & Oberauer, 2008;Nairne, 2002;Tehan & Tolan, 2007).…”

Section: Observed Similarities Between Free Recall and Isrsupporting

confidence: 55%

“…These data suggest that the differences in the shapes of the serial position curves were due more to the retrieval characteristics of the different tasks than to differences in strategic encoding. it provides evidence in support of the concept of trace decay (Baddeley, 2007;Cowan, 2005;Mueller, Seymour, Kieras, & Meyer, 2003;Schweikert & Boruff, 1986), although many alternative explanations have since been proposed (e.g., Brown & Hulme, 1995;Hulme et al, 2006;Hulme, Suprenant, Bireta, Stuart, & Neath, 2004;Lewandowsky & Farrell, 2000;Lewandowsky & Oberauer, 2008;Nairne, 2002;Neath & Nairne, 1995;Tehan & Tolan, 2007). The working memory model (Baddeley, 1986) assumes that the word length effect is a key empirical finding supporting the existence of the phonological loop mechanism of working memory that is used for both rehearsal and recall in ISR.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: Similar patterns of rehearsal and similar effects of word length, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Observed Similarities Between Free Recall and Isrsupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: Similar patterns of rehearsal and similar effects of word length, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Frequently, the second dimension captures variation among the items. Hendry and Tehan (2005; see also Tehan & Tolan, 2007) have suggested an item/order trade-off account of the word length effect that may well apply to the other benchmark data. The basic thrust of this argument is that items that can be encoded easily at the item level (e.g., short words, dissimilar-sounding items, words without background speech or no concurrent articulation) will benefit with regard to encoding of order.…”

Section: Explaining Backward Recallmentioning

confidence: 94%

Backward recall and benchmark effects of working memory

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Four effects-the word length effect, the irrelevant speech effect, the acoustic confusion effect, and the concurrent articulation effect-have played a prominent role in the development of influential theories of immediate memory. Indeed, accounting for these four findings was one of the motivations for creating the phonological loop component of working memory (Baddeley, 1992), and these effects are seen as key data that computational models of short-term memory must account for (Lewandowsky & Farrell, 2008). Despite the numerous studies examining these phenomena, very few studies have examined them using backward recall. To that end, one purpose of the four experiments reported here was to assess whether the four benchmark effects of working memory are observable with backward recall. A second purpose was to test the predictions of two models of memory: Despite their many differences, both the primacy model (Page & Norris, 1998) and the feature model (Nairne, 1990) predict that all four effects should be observed with backward recall. Empirical ReviewWord length effect. The word length effect refers to the finding that lists of short (i.e., one-syllable) words are recalled better than otherwise comparable lists of longer (i.e., multisyllabic) words (Baddeley, Thomson, & Buchan an, 1975; for a review, see . The standard paradigm is forward immediate serial recall, but the word length effect is also observable with reconstruction of order (Nairne, Neath, & Serra, 1997), serial recognition (Baddeley, Chincotta, Stafford, & Turk, 2002), free recall (Watkins, 1972), single-item probe recall (Avons, Wright, & Pammer, 1994), and complex span (Tehan, Hendry, & Kocinski, 2001) tests. However, only a small number of studies have examined whether the effect is observable with backward recall.Cowan et al. (1992, Experiment 3) had subjects recall lists of short and long words in both a forward and a backward order, and recall direction was not known until test. However, a straightforward interpretation of the results is difficult, since word length was manipulated within a list (i.e., the first half of the list was short words, the second half long words), and since the lists had five items, there were not equal numbers of short and long items per list. Moreover, the stimuli used have since been shown to be atypical (see, e.g., Neath, Bireta, & Surprenant, 2003). Cowan, Wood, and Borne (1994) Working memory was designed to explain four benchmark memory effects: the word length effect, the irrelevant speech effect, the acoustic confusion effect, and the concurrent articulation effect. However, almost all research thus far has used tests that emphasize forward recall. In four experiments, we examine whether each effect is observable when the items are recalled in reverse order. Subjects did not know which recall direction would be required until the time of test, ensuring that encoding processes would be identical for both recall directions. Contrary to predictions of both the primacy model and the feature model, the benchm...

show abstract

“…some studies 8,23 found a significant reduction in length presented by apraxics and an absence of word length effect, akin to results found in healthy adults under articulatory suppression conditions. And observed that the alteration in material retrieval found in apraxics involves the articulatory planning stage of speech production.…”

Section: Working Memory Testsmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Baddeley et al 1,5 used monosyllabic words and compared their span with fivesyllable words. some authors 23 also found the word length effect in long-term memory tests and considered monosyllabic words as short words. Perhaps the use of words with a greater difference in length could have evidenced the length effect in controls.…”

Section: Working Memory Testsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between working memory and apraxia of speech

Martins

Ortiz

2009

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-The present study aimed to verify the relationship between working memory (WM) and apraxia of speech and explored which WM components were involved in the motor planning of speech. A total of 22 patients and 22 healthy adults were studied. These patients were selected according to the following inclusion criteria: a single brain lesion in the left hemisphere, presence of apraxia of speech and sufficient oral comprehension. This study involved assessment of apraxia of speech and evaluation of working memory capacity. The performance of apraxic patients was significantly poorer than that of controls, where this reached statistical significance. The study concluded that participants with apraxia of speech presented a working memory deficit and that this was probably related to the articulatory process of the phonoarticulatory loop. Furthermore, all apraxic patients presented a compromise in working memory.Key Words: memory, working memory, speech production, motor planning of speech, apraxia, apraxia of speech.a interrelação entre memória operacional e apraxia de fala resumo -o objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar a interrelação entre memória operacional e apraxia verbal e explorar quais os componentes desta memória estariam envolvidos na programação motora da fala. Foram avaliados 22 pacientes apráxicos e 22 controles. Todos os participantes foram submetidos a avaliação da apraxia de fala. Para investigar a memória operacional, foram aplicados o teste de span de dígitos na ordem direta e inversa, um teste de repetição de palavras longas e curtas e o Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, que investiga, além da alça articulatória, o buffer episódico. o desempenho dos apráxicos em todos os testes de memória foi estatisticamente significante mais baixo que o desempenho dos controles. Concluímos que indivíduos com apraxia apresentam um déficit na memória operacional e que este déficit está mais relacionado ao processo articulatório da alça fonoarticulatória.PALAVrAs-CHAVe: memória, memória operacional, programação motora da fala, apraxia, apraxia verbal. The first and most-used definition of working memory (WM) was devised by Allan Baddeley 1 who conceived this as a system enabling temporary storage and manipulation of information required to carry out the complex activities of language processing, learning and reasoning. In 2000, Baddeley 2 made the final additions to the WM model which currently encompasses the central executive, visuo-spatial sketchpad, phonoarticulatory loops, and episodic buffer. The phonoarticulatory loop may be divided into the phonological store and articulatory process. The former involves storage of all material from auditory code while the latter is responsible for temporary holding of this material in the memory allowing subsequent retrieval 3 . studies have shown that WM span may vary and that factors such as phonemic similarity and word length can influence memory processing [3][4][5] . It was also investigated the capacity of WM during impeded retention of auditory informatio...

show abstract

Word length effects in long-term memory

Cited by 29 publications

References 47 publications

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: Similar patterns of rehearsal and similar effects of word length, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression

Examining the relationship between free recall and immediate serial recall: Similar patterns of rehearsal and similar effects of word length, presentation rate, and articulatory suppression

Backward recall and benchmark effects of working memory

The relationship between working memory and apraxia of speech

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About