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Syntax, morphosyntax, and serial recall: How language supports short-term memory.

Judith Schweppe1,2, Friederike Schütte3,4, Franziska Machleb3

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Summary

Syntactic word order improves verbal short-term memory recall only when it aligns with morphosyntactic congruence, as seen in German. This supports language-based models of memory, showing word order alone is insufficient for enhanced retention.

Keywords:
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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Experimental Psychology

Background:

  • The classic view posits verbal short-term memory relies on phonological representations.
  • Language-based accounts suggest semantic and syntactic factors influence verbal retention.
  • Prior research in English showed canonical word order aids serial recall.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if syntactic word order affects verbal short-term memory in German.
  • To examine the role of morphosyntactic congruence in this effect.
  • To test the predictions of language-based memory models in a morphologically rich language.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments modified Perham et al.'s (2009) study using German adjective-noun pairs.
  • Lists were presented in adjective-noun and noun-adjective orders.
  • Morphosyntactic congruence between adjectives and nouns was manipulated (congruent, uninflected, or incongruent).

Main Results:

  • A significant interaction was found between word order and morphosyntactic congruence.
  • Word order improved recall performance exclusively when adjectives were congruently inflected.
  • No effect of word order was observed with uninflected or incongruently inflected adjectives.

Conclusions:

  • Grammaticality in German relies on both word order and morphosyntax.
  • Syntactic word order alone does not enhance verbal short-term memory recall in German.
  • Findings support language-based models, highlighting the interplay of linguistic factors in memory.