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Some evidence for 'speech' as an acoustic feature
British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)
|February 1, 1976
Summary
The suffix effect, where a trailing sound impairs auditory memory recall, is not affected by speech sound complexity. Non-speech sounds do not cause this memory impairment.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Auditory Memory
- Speech Perception
Background:
- The suffix effect describes how a redundant item after a list impairs recall of the final item.
- Previous research established the suffix effect in auditory serial recall tasks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the phonological complexity of the suffix influences the suffix effect.
- To determine if non-speech sounds or certain speech sounds lacking typical speech properties elicit a suffix effect.
Main Methods:
- Auditory presentation of digit lists followed by various suffixes (phonologically complex speech sounds, non-speech sounds, specific speech sounds).
- Serial recall of the digit lists was measured.
- Subjects were sometimes forced to process the non-speech sounds.
Main Results:
- The phonological complexity of the suffix did not alter the magnitude of the suffix effect.
- Non-speech sounds did not produce a suffix effect, even when processing was mandated.
- Certain speech sounds also failed to induce a suffix effect.
Conclusions:
- Sounds that do not possess characteristic speech properties are processed by a distinct system from speech sounds.
- The suffix effect is contingent on the processing of specific speech sound characteristics, not just auditory input.