Memory demands in linguistic compensation.
Individuals often modify speech characteristics to accommodate their listeners. In the present study, we investigate how speakers modify their speech in a dictation task and what this says about their beliefs with respect to the listener's information processing limitations. To do so, we asked participants to either read a set of numbers aloud, or dictate numbers so that another person could write them down. Our results suggest that speech modification in this task was not related to individual differences in working memory capacity, and could represent speakers' attempt to minimize working memory demands of the listener. This account is similar to minimal memory strategies, whereby individuals often try to minimize memory demands in cognitive tasks.
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Srdan
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7552-5432
S
Medimorec
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Chandeep
C
Mander
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Evan F
EF
Risko
D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students; D014495:Universities
Language; linguistic compensation; speech; working memory