Phonological similarity between words is represented in declarative memory as spatial distance

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Linguistics

Background:

• Spatial information and similarity influence each other, with similarity implying closeness and proximity influencing judgment.
• Spatial information can be stored and retrieved from declarative memory.
• The representation of phonological word similarity within declarative memory remains unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether phonological similarity/dissimilarity is encoded as spatial closeness/distance in declarative memory.
• To examine the relationship between phonological properties of words and their spatial representation.
• To assess the role of declarative memory in storing this phonological-spatial information.

Main Methods:

• A remember-know (RK) spatial distance task was administered to 61 young adults.
• Participants learned noun pairs varying in phonological similarity (similar/dissimilar) and spatial distance (near/far).
• Recognition tests included old-new, RK, and spatial distance judgments.

Main Results:

• Phonologically similar word pairs were recalled as spatially closer than dissimilar pairs for both 'remember' (R) and 'know' (K) judgments.
• This effect was also observed for false alarms following 'know' judgments.
• Actual spatial distance at encoding was retained only for 'remember' hit responses.

Conclusions:

• Phonological similarity/dissimilarity is represented as spatial closeness/distance in declarative memory.
• This phonological-spatial representation is stored within the neurocognitive system of declarative memory.
• The findings contribute to understanding how linguistic information is spatially encoded and retrieved.