The effect of word length in short-term memory: Is rehearsal necessary?
Three experiments investigated the effect of word length on a serial recognition task when rehearsal was prevented by a high presentation rate with no delay between study and test lists. Results showed that lists of short four-phoneme words were better recognized than lists of long six-phoneme words. Moreover, this effect was equivalent to that observed in conditions in which there was a delay between lists, thereby making rehearsal possible in the interval. These findings imply that rehearsal does not play a central role in the origin of the word length effect. An alternative explanation based on differences in the degree of retroactive interference generated by long and short words is proposed.
Campoy
Guillermo
G
University of Murcia, Spain.
D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology