title: Effects of orthographic and phonological word length on memory for lists shown at RSVP and STM rates.
abstract: This article reports 3 experiments in which effects of orthographic and phonological word length on memory were examined for short lists shown at rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) and short-term memory (STM) rates. Only visual-orthographic length reduced RSVP serial recall, whereas both orthographic and phonological length lowered recall for STM lists in Experiment 1. Word-length effects may arise from output processes or from the temporal duration of output in recall. In 2 further experiments, output demands were reduced through the use of a recognition test. Recognition accuracy was impaired only by orthographic length for RSVP lists and by phonological length for STM lists in both experiments. The results demonstrate 2 item length effects not simply attributable to increased output time in recall, and implications for theories of STM are considered.
authors.affiliation: Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. veronika@maccs.mq.edu.au
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coltheart
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mondy
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Dux
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stephenson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D010700:Phonetics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014796:Visual Perception; D014825:Vocabulary