Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Extending the irrelevant speech effect beyond serial recall

D C LeCompte1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|November 1, 1994
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

A comparison of item and source forgetting.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2013
Same author

An irrelevant speech effect with repeated and continuous background speech.

Psychonomic bulletin & review·2013
Same author

The Word Completion Memory Test (WCMT): a new test to detect malingered memory deficits.

Archives of clinical neuropsychology : the official journal of the National Academy of Neuropsychologists·2003
Same author

Manipulations of irrelevant information: suffix effects with articulatory suppression and irrelevant speech.

The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology·2000
Same author

Role of study strategy in recall of mixed lists of common and rare words.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2000
Same author

Age and individual differences influence prospective memory.

Psychology and aging·1999
Same journal

Memory loves company: Related object pairs benefit working memory.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Ranschburg unrepeated.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times: Evidence for switch cost beyond stimulus-response tasks.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Testing the predictions of a distinctiveness model of memory: The production effect in backward recall.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

On the impact of adjacency on transposed-word effects under serial presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

It's time to opt out: Metacognitive analysis of time regulation under uncertainty.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
See all related articles

The irrelevant speech effect, which impairs memory, is more widespread than previously thought. This effect impacts various memory tasks beyond serial recall, including free recall and recognition.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Auditory Perception
  • Memory Research

Background:

  • The irrelevant speech effect (ISE) describes memory impairment from to-be-ignored speech.
  • Previous research primarily linked ISE to serial recall tasks.
  • The generality of the ISE across different memory paradigms remained largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the breadth of the irrelevant speech effect across various memory tasks.
  • To determine if ISE impacts free recall, recognition, and cued recall.
  • To examine the influence of speech characteristics (e.g., meaningfulness, timing) on ISE.

Main Methods:

  • Conducted 8 experiments manipulating memory tasks (serial recall, free recall, recognition, cued recall).
  • Presented to-be-ignored auditory stimuli, including irrelevant speech and white noise.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Varied list lengths (8, 12, 16 items) and stimulus timing (pre- or post-list presentation).
  • Utilized phonologically related and unrelated lure items in recognition tasks.

    • Main Results:

    • Irrelevant speech impaired free recall more than white noise.
    • The effect persisted even when speech stimuli were presented after the to-be-recalled items.
    • Meaningless speech also inhibited free recall, demonstrating the effect's robustness.
    • ISE was observed in recognition tasks across various list lengths and lure types.
    • The effect extended to cued recall tasks, suggesting a broad impact on memory.

    Conclusions:

    • The irrelevant speech effect is significantly more general than previously established.
    • ISE impacts multiple memory systems, including free recall, recognition, and cued recall.
    • The findings challenge earlier limitations of the ISE to serial recall and highlight its pervasive influence on immediate memory.