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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
Disruption of short-term memory by distractor speech: does content matter?
Raoul Bell1, Iris Mund, Axel Buchner
1Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. raoul.bell@uni-duesseldorf.de
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|June 15, 2010
Summary
Auditory distractors identical to visual targets significantly worsen serial recall. This challenges prior explanations, suggesting memory models integrating short-term and long-term memory are more accurate.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Auditory Perception
- Memory Research
Background:
- The irrelevant-speech effect in serial recall was previously attributed to incompatible order cues.
- Lexically identical auditory distractors were found to dramatically increase this effect.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the underlying mechanisms of the irrelevant-speech effect.
- To re-evaluate the interpretation of auditory distractor interference in serial recall.
- To test the generalizability of the between-stream similarity effect.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted, replicating and extending previous findings.
- Serial recall tasks were used with visual target items and auditory distractors.
- Distractor items varied in lexical identity and categorical similarity to target items.
Main Results:
- Auditory distractors lexically identical to visual targets significantly increased the irrelevant-speech effect.
- The order congruence effect was replicated but attributed to strategic attention shifts.
- The between-stream similarity effect generalized to categorically similar, non-identical distractors.
Conclusions:
- Nonacoustic distractor features can increase interference in serial recall.
- Results support memory models integrating short-term and long-term memory (e.g., embedded-processes, feature models).
- Classical structural accounts of memory are inconsistent with these findings.
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