Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

Paws + cause = pause? Memory load and memory blends in homophone recognition.

Tamiko Azuma1, Erica J Williams, Juliet E Davie

  • 1Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0102, USA. azuma@asu.edu

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|December 8, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Living alone with dementia: Supportive care for dementia, a replicable model for support and lessons learned.

Dementia (London, England)·2025
Same author

Supportive Care for Dementia: A Replicable Model to Reduce Neurobehavioral Symptoms, Caregiver Stress, and Hospitalizations, and Increase Hospice Referrals.

Journal of palliative medicine·2023
Same author

Words Versus Pictures: Bilingual Performance on Verbal and Pictorial Measures of Executive Functions.

Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR·2022
Same author

The impact of mild traumatic brain injury on reading comprehension and eye movements: preliminary results.

Journal of communication disorders·2022
Same author

The effects of stimulus modality, task complexity, and cuing on working memory and the relationship with speech recognition in older cochlear implant users.

Journal of communication disorders·2021
Same author

Psychoacoustic and Demographic Factors for Speech Recognition of Older Adult Cochlear Implant Users.

Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR·2020
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Memory errors can occur when similar information is processed closely in time. This study found that memory loads similar to alternate spellings of homophones significantly increased false memory alarms, suggesting blended memories.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience of Memory

Background:

  • Memory blends can arise from closely activated, distinct information sources.
  • Orthographic similarity and temporal proximity are key factors in memory error formation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the creation of blended memories using homophones and memory loads.
  • To determine if memory loads similar to alternate spellings of homophones induce false memory alarms.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Participants judged relatedness of homophone word pairs under different memory load conditions (study-similar, test-similar, no-load).
  • Experiment 2: Replicated Experiment 1 with added controls for orthographic confusion.
  • A surprise recognition test assessed false alarms for non-presented alternate spellings.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • The test-similar memory load condition significantly increased false alarms compared to study-similar and no-load conditions.
  • Results indicate that partially activated alternate spellings, combined with orthographically similar memory words, create blended memories.
  • Replication in Experiment 2 confirmed these findings.

Conclusions:

  • Memory loads similar to alternate spellings of homophones can induce false memories.
  • Findings support the theory of multiple episodic memories being activated and perceived as a single, blended memory.