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The syllable-based word length effect and stimulus set specificity.

Tamra J Bireta1, Ian Neath, Aimée M Surprenant

  • 1Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. tbireta@tcni.edu

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
|October 20, 2006
PubMed
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The word length effect in memory recall is influenced by item pronunciation time. This study shows that the specific word sets used can explain conflicting findings in previous research on this effect.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Human Memory

Background:

  • The word length effect demonstrates that shorter words are recalled better than longer words in immediate serial recall.
  • Major models predict poorer recall for lists containing both short and long words compared to lists of only short words.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the discrepancy in findings regarding the word length effect in mixed-list recall.
  • To determine if stimulus set properties explain conflicting empirical results.

Main Methods:

  • Experiments were conducted using immediate serial recall tests.
  • Different stimulus sets were employed to examine their influence on recall performance.
  • Recall accuracy for short and long words in mixed and pure lists was analyzed.

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Main Results:

  • One stimulus set replicated findings by Cowan et al. (mixed lists recalled worse than pure short lists, better than pure long lists).
  • Other stimulus sets replicated findings by Hulme et al. (mixed lists recalled equally well as pure short lists).

Conclusions:

  • The properties of the stimulus sets used are critical in determining the outcome of word length effect studies.
  • This highlights the importance of stimulus selection in memory research and model testing.