Abstract
The 11 subjects memorized variable lists of either one or three spoken consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. Each list (positive set) was followed by a spoken CV test syllable and subject’s task was to indicate whether or not the test syllable matched a syllable from the list. Negative test probes were either phonemically distinct from items in the list or were phonemically similar to list items. Reaction time (RT) increased with list length and RT was faster to positive than to negative probes. Additionally, a significantly faster memory scanning rate was observed for phonemically distinct negative probes (53 msec/item) than for negative test probes which were similar to items in the positive set (81 msec/item). Contrary to earlier research it was concluded that phonological distinctive features have a large effect on memory search RT.
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The research for this paper was supported by Oklahoma State University research funds. This paper is sponsored by Robert F. Stanners who takes full editorial responsibility for it.
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Dick, R.B., Hochhaus, L. Memory search as a function of phonological context. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 5, 256–258 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337625
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337625