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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Examining Online Syntactic Processing of Spoken Complex Sentences in Chinese Using Dual-Modal Interference Tasks
08:32

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Published on: September 5, 2019

Turning simple span into complex span: Time for decay or interference from distractors?

Stephan Lewandowsky1, Sonja M Geiger, Daniel B Morrell

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia. lewan@psy.uwa.edu.au

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|June 23, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The type of distractors, not their duration, significantly impacts encoding into short-term memory (STM). Repeating the same distractor word causes less interference than using different distractor words.

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A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Memory

Background:

  • Short-term memory (STM) research often employs complex-span tasks.
  • Interference models, like Serial Order in a Box (SOB), explain STM performance.
  • Temporal models suggest duration is key, but this study explores other factors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how distractor duration and type affect verbal list encoding into STM.
  • To test predictions from the SOB interference model against temporal models.
  • To determine the primary factors influencing successful STM encoding.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted using a complex-span task paradigm.
  • Participants encoded verbal lists with alternating to-be-remembered items and distractors.
  • Distractor duration and repetition (same vs. different words) were manipulated.

Main Results:

  • The type of distractor articulated had a greater effect on STM encoding than its total duration.
  • Repeating the same distractor word resulted in less interference compared to using varied distractor words.
  • Increased retention intervals with repeated distractors caused less disruption than predicted by some models.

Conclusions:

  • Distractor type is a critical factor in STM encoding, challenging purely temporal accounts.
  • Findings support interference-based models (e.g., SOB) over simple time-based resource sharing models.
  • Memory for the short term is influenced by factors beyond just temporal processing.