University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014
Dissertations and Theses
1986
The effect of a stimulus suffix on short-term
auditory memory in preschoolers.
Teresa Daly
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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The Effect of a Stimulus Suffix on Short-Term
Auditory Memory in Preschoolers
A Thesis Presented
by
Teresa Daly
Submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
September 1986
Psychology
The Effect of a Stimulus Suffix on Short-Term
Auditory Memory in Preschoolers
A Thesis Presented
by
Teresa Daly
Approved as to style, and content by:
Nelson Cowan, Chairperson of Committee
Charles Clifton, Member
Marvin W. Daehler, Member
Nancy A
.
'
Mye r s
,
Membe r
Seymour M. Berger, Cfiair
Department of Psychology
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
would like to thank the members of my
committee
help and understanding during this research
I
their
for
effort.
Nelson
Cowan
has provided the initial framework
necessary
for me to undertake this research.
Nancy Myers has provided
valuable
and
and
speedy
criticism
preparation of the manuscript,
made
of
guidance
in
the
chuck Clifton has graciously
his lab available to me during the lengthy preparation
the tapes needed to run the experiment.
Last
but
not
least, Marv Daehler has kept me moving by insisting my
Comps
could
help
Pitts
be completed by September.
with BMDP.
I
I
thank Dave Palmer for
would also like to thank
Mrs.
Pearlie
for her invaluable help scheduling subjects,
and her
positive
outlook.
and perspective,
My parents have provided
for which
I
encouragement
am very grateful.
must thank Andy Piccolo for his extreme patience,
Finally,
his
I
many
unpaid hours, his male voice, and his many computer devices,
without which this entire volume would be blank.
iii
ABSTRACT
Research
aspects
investigating
research
which
and
qualitative
of auditory short-term memory in young
children has
been long overlooked.
such
the duration
will
Theoretical and practical benefits of
may be great:
it will
provide
information
be of use to cognitive development
researchers
and educators alike.
In this experiment,
the duration
of
short-term auditory memory was assessed in 4-year olds.
in
addition, the sensitivity of children's auditory memory
was
evaluated
Children
by
the
use
of
a
suffix
procedure.
were required to remember four-word lists over 10-
and 20-second delay periods.
by
stimulus
The delay period was followed
one of three suffixes varying in acoustic similarity
the list-presentation voice:
different
voice,
or
a
to
the same voice as the list,
control
tone.
Percent
a
correct
picture selection was analyzed for delay and suffix effects.
Auditory
short-term
memory at age
4
was
useful
recall up to 20 seconds after list presentation.
most
negatively
affected
by the
same-voice
Memory was
suffix.
effect
of the tone suffix was significantly less
effect
of
preschoolers
the
1
same-voice suffix.
short-term
Results
than
suggest
auditory memory behaves
very similar to adult short-term auditory memory.
iv
for
in
The
the
that
ways
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
ABSTRACT
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
INTRODUCTION
METHOD
21
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
27
GENERAL DISCUSSION
45
APPENDICES
52
A
52
B
55
C
58
REFERENCES
60
v
LIST OF TABLES
.
Mean percentage correct picture selection
vi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Illustration of PAS and its relation to
short
term memory
Mean percentage correct* as* a' function' of
delay and suffix
32
Comparison of mean percentage 'correct 'as 'a*
function'
of delay in the current study and a
previous
study using the same stimuli
35
Mean percentage correct as a function of suffix"
and'
serial position at 20 seconds
38
Mean percentage correct as a function' of suffix'
and'
serial position across delays
40
Mean percentage correct as a function of acoustic
similarity of foils and serial position
42
Mean percentage correct as a function of suffix type
and acoustic similarity of foils
43
'
6.
7.
*
•
*
Vll
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION
I
Research
exploring
developmental
the
characteristics
temporal
course
and
of auditory memory in
young
children has been largely neglected.
The possible practical
as
well as theoretical benefits of such research are great:
on
the
practical side,
for
example,
research
on
early
reading experience has repeatedly shown that the proficiency
of
beginning readers is related to their ability to
and
compare
Thus,
phonological input (Bradley
understanding
memory
limits
psychologists
reading
to
memory
The
1981)
should
Morais,
1979;
language
and
memory
impaired
also
addition,
importance.
Young
strategies (Flavell,
1981).
importance
educational
teaching
auditory
of
Alegria
(Tallal,
&
Beach
&
Kallman
&
of
auditory
those
studying
Linder, 1984).
research
children
to
both
Bertelson,
&
Stark,
important
prove
such
Cary,
Greater knowledge
children.
learning disabilities (Seigel
In
to
language learning and reading is clear for
in
Mellits,
should eventually be of use
1983).
auditory
and teachers who are concerned with
normal (Kucjaz,
1979)
Bryant,
&
the properties of children's
young children.
retain
do
could
not
Chinsky,
theoretical
have
use
adult
1966;
Kail
memory
&
Hagen,
Therefore, another benefit of research on children's
short-term
auditory
memory is its implications
for
adult
memory
models:
short-term
(Cowan
it can help define structural components
of
memory relatively free of strategy
interference
Kielbasa, in press).
&
This
introduction
understanding
will
outline
the
current
in
children,
auditory short-term memory
of
first by examining our knowledge of adult short-term memory,
then
by
term
auditory
analyzing available research on children's
memory,
as
well
summarizing
as
short-
relevant
methodologies used in the investigation of other aspects
short-term
memory in children.
The purpose of the current
study is to further clarify the duration and sensitivity
auditory
short-term
description
of
memory
the
of
preschoolers,
in
specific
goals
and
and
focus
of
of
a
this
experiment can be found at the end of this chapter.
Adult Studies of Auditory Memory
Models
studies
of auditory memory
have
been
.
A substantial number
conducted to elucidate
course
the
auditory short-term memory in adults (see Crowder,
Cowan,
for reviews).
The concept of an
of
of
1983 and
echoic,
or
short-term auditory store has become popular in the last
20
1984
In this store,
years.
of
and
Such
which represents the earliest stage
information processing,
retains
information remains unanalyzed,
the basic properties of
the
auditory
a system could be important for understanding
sentences
sometimes
and
making
use
of
intonational
cues
input.
complex
which
signal the intent of the speaker only at the very
3
end
of
the speech string.
unanalyzed,
rehearsal
can
it
(Crowder,
Although such
information
be scanned and identified
1976).
The echoic
for
store
is
covert
eventually
becomes unavailable, lost by either displacement, erasure or
decay.
that
Crowder'
s
echoic
memory represented a
storage
experimental
system
(PAS)
work led him
(Crowder
to
hypothesize
precategorical
&
Morton,
acoustic
1969).
He
envisioned this store as retaining properties of the sensory
channel,
and being influenced by both the closeness in time
and channel of the input,
strength
of
as well as the input's speed
activation of long-term
memory
and
associations.
echoic memory for any given stimulus will be affected
Thus,
both
by
the
number and physical nature of
other
stimuli
impinging on the store, and by the associations between that
stimulus and others in long-term memory.
Since all auditory information occurs across time,
existence
of
a short-term auditory
store
seems
the
logical.
Crowder and Morton (1969) saw this storage system as limited
in both size and duration.
the
He
possible avenues of information loss in echoic
memory.
believed that each input into auditory short-term memory
masked
item
Crowder (1976) addressed some of
previous items to some degree.
auditorily
presented,
has the
Therefore, the last
purest
memory
Crowder hypothesized that this phenomenon accounted in
trace.
part
for the large recency effect seen in auditory
but not visual
memory
tasks.
between
He
believed that rehearsal
always
occurs
the end of the last list item and the beginning
recall.
Thus,
the
last
list items benefited
from
of
both
rehearsal and the echoic trace, leading to a recency effect.
Baddeley
memory.
His
proposed
system
short-term
of
three-component memory system consists
sensory
storage
storing
visual
system
(a
visual-spatial
information,
auditory information),
processing
similar
a
an
of
scratchpad
articulatory
for
loop
for
and a central executive for actively
information in
memory
(Baddeley,
The
1981).
sensory
storage
program
necessary for producing that trace until it can
recoded
verbally (if it is visual in nature) or acted
system temporarily holds a trace or
by the central executive.
auditory
component
(Zhang & Simon,
of
1985),
a
motor
be
upon
Recent evidence suggests the non-
short-term memory
is
quite
small
and quickly becomes unavailable
if
not recoded in another form.
Both
that
models
retains
posit a sensory-perceptual
some properties of the sensory
memory
trace
channel.
In
addition, both Crowder and Morton (1969) and Baddeley (1981)
propose that this auditory store is temporally
limited.
A
simplification of these two models can be found in Figure
1.
The notion of a time constraint on short-term memory is
a fairly common theme in the literature,
quite
plausible.
However,
and one that seems
it must be asked if this
time
5
Sound
—
PAS
A
s&ve
<
1
1
V
Articulation
Figure
1.
Illustration of PAS and its relation to short
term memory.
6
constraint
changes
with development.
if the duration
short-term auditory memory is biologically determined,
maturation
However,
might
Baddeley
predicted
is
found
temporal
that digit span length
then
limits.
could
be
by the number of words an individual was able
to
read aloud in
span,
lead to changes in the
of
seconds.
2
This finding held across the
and led to his hypothesis
temporally limited.
age
that the articulatory loop
Recent work has cast doubt on the
purely
temporally-based explanations of
short-term
memory
limits
and differences seen between adult and child
memory
limits (Case,
Lee
Kurland
Stevenson,
&
duration
(Crowder,
Goldberg, 1982; Chi, 1976; Stigler,
&
in
press).
In
addition,
short-term auditory memory has
of
Crowder
1983;
Morton,
&
exact
the
been
disputed
1969; Watkins
&
Todres,
1980, Watkins and Watkins, 1980).
Adult methodologies
field
of
specific
.
While there is controversy in the
short-term memory,
the existence of an
short-term memory is widely accepted,
methodologies
approaches
to
used to evaluate it.
Although a
auditory
as are
number
investigate the nature of this store
been used (Darwin,
Turvey
&
Crowder,
1972;
the
of
have
Massaro, 1972;
Treisman, 1964), one of the most prevalent techniques is the
stimulus suffix paradigm (Dallet,
1969).
1965;
Crowder
&
Morton,
This procedure requires a subject to serially recall
an auditorily presented list of items to which an additional
7
item, which is not to be recalled, has been appended.
Typically,
and
the suffix paradigm includes both a control
suffix condition.
a
The control usually consists
of
either a no-suffix condition or a non-speech suffix (such as
a
tone or a click) placed at the end of the list.
In
the
suffix condition, a speech suffix is presented at the end of
the
list.
before
The
the
subject is familiarized
list is presented,
with
the
and is instructed to
recall immediately after the suffix is heard.
the
Sled, Go").
"Dog,
sled
,
by
the
Egg, Hat, Farm, Box, Gate,
He would then write in the exact same order, to
the best of his memory,
gate
Tree,
begin
For example,
subject might hear an eight-item list followed
suffix "Go" (e.g.,
suffix
dog
,
tree
,
egg
hat
,
farm, box
,
,
on a prepared response sheet.
Experiments
makes
sense
item,
results
using
the suffix paradigm
that the subject would ignore
Although
.
it
additional
the
indicate that the addition of such
item
an
substantially reduces accuracy of recall for the last serial
when
position
the
suffix follows the
several seconds (Crowder,
interference
The
1969,
Crowder
it
is
trace
&
or
&
Morton,
1969).
recency
Moreover,
curves.
a speech suffix is most damaging to memory when
presented
Crowder
within
caused by the suffix reduces the
effect observed in most serial position
for adults,
item
final
Prussin,
in the same voice as
1971),
the
list
(Morton,
suggesting there is an acoustic
sensory-based memory for these
last
few
items.
8
Crowder
(1978)
argued that the suffix effect reflects
the auditory nature of short-term memory,
for
his PAS model.
allow
the
rehearsal
phase
He suggested that non-speech
subject to retain the
information
the
of
providing support
list,
suffixes
speech-specific
which can be
used
auditory
to
aid
and other retention strategies before the
of the experiment.
report
This would lead to the typically
observed
recency portion of the serial position
serially
presented
follows the list,
memory
however,
tasks.
When a
curve
speech
which
especially
for
suffix
the physical similarity of this
input to the original list items interferes with the
trace,
in
affects
recall for
echoic
those
items
for
this
immediately before the suffix.
There
been
has
shown
membership
that
of
support
Work by Morton, Crowder and Prussin (1971)
interpretation.
has
experimental
neither
the
meaning
nor
the suffix item changes the
category
the
suffix
effect.
Thus, the word "fan" would have the same effect on a list of
Similarly,
concrete nouns as it would on a list of numbers.
the
word "zero" would have no greater effect on
numbers than would the word "fan."
of
nonsense
real
study.
words
No
a
list
the effect
In addition,
syllables was no different from the effect
or unintelligible words (e.g.,
"uh"
)
in
suffix effect was obtained when loud (90dB)
soft (80dB) white noise was used as a suffix,
of
whereas
of
this
or
both
9
loud
and
soft speech suffixes produced the typical
suffix
effect.
However, Greenberg and Engle (1983) have indicated that
the
suffix
effect
effect may index two
of
suffix
a
on
memory
preterminal
components.
list
influenced by practice and presentation rate,
attentional mechanism.
on
The
positions
is
suggesting an
In contrast, the effect of a suffix
memory for the final serial position is not affected
practice
or
presentation
explanation.
Thus,
rate,
the
suggesting
by
structural
a
final serial position provides
good index of the auditory component of memory,
a
Crowder
as
suggested, but the suffix effect itself is more complex than
Crowder initially believed.
These
observations
Crowder' s
were
converging
model of a PAS system.
category.
seem
indicate
to
precategorical
Crowder'
fire.
s
The
store,
fact that this is not
.
that the
as
Crowder
items
are
held
Using
a
delay paradigm,
in
a
However,
come
extend
under
Watkins and Watkins (1980)
found evidence of an acoustic store that extended for up
20 seconds.
a
case
the
suggests.
1971) has
items
from
early contention that this store does not
two or three seconds (Crowder,
one
recall,
greater effect on recall than a suffix
a
different
past
and
for
processing
expect a suffix from the same category as list
have
would
support
If cognitive
occurring between list presentation
would
to
provide
to
This and other recent research has led Crowder
10
to modify his explanation of the temporal course
of auditory
memory (Crowder, 1983).
Watkins
and
Todres (1980) studied the time course
auditory memory by applying additional modifications to
suffix paradigm.
They analyzed memory over
5
the
delays ranging
from
2
not
encoding the list in some suffix-resistant memory
to 20 seconds in length.
of
To assure the subjects were
over
these delays, Watkins and Todres introduced a series of sums
to
completed during the delay
be
distractor
using
task
interval.
was implemented to prevent
This
silent
subjects
from
cognitive retention strategies that may have obscured
findings
of previous studies that used unfilled
assessing
Watkins
auditory
short-term
memory.
At
and Todres found significant suffix
delays
all
delays,
effects.
suffix effect diminished as delay length increased,
still evident at 20 seconds.
in
The
but was
Recall at 20 seconds showed a
robust suffix effect in the arithmetic distraction group and
a
effect in a control group with an unfilled
small
delay.
Balota
and Duchek (in press) have also studied
the
effect
at longer delays by replicating Morton,
Crowder and
Prussin's
(1971)
experiment
evaluating
to
list influences auditory memory for that list for more
10
seconds,
suffix
is
of
Their results
the acoustic similarity of a suffix
that
indicate
effect
the
acoustic similarity of suffix to list items.
suffix
its
than
although the effect of an acoustically similar
not
distinguishable from the
effect
of
other
11
suffixes by 20 seconds.
Parkinson (1978) suggests that task demands may have
great effect on the outcome of suffix experiments.
suffix
paradigm
a
suffix effect,
Using a
with a forced-choice recognition
phase and adult subjects,
a
response
Parkinson found he did not obtain
while such an effect was readily
evident
when a recall report phase was employed.
Parkinson's
results
may
suggest
that
the
suffix
paradigm might not tap the structural components of auditory
memory,
but
rather
strategic memory.
combination
some
On the other hand,
of
structural
Parkinson's findings
may
be attributed to differences in retrieval under
and
recognition conditions.
held
items
stored
If items in the
those
recognition
then
is that an auditory trace may last much
shown in most suffix experiments.
than
that
than
partial report cues for auditory memory,
implication
recall
it may be possible
for recall are encoded differently
for recognition.
provide
Or,
and
set
the
longer
It may be that the
trace remains but becomes less easily accessible for
recall
without retrieval aids as time passes.
The
implications
of these studies for general
memory
models and for models of memory development are interesting.
If
an
auditory store which could exist in the
strategy use is available to adults,
absence
more time to
consider strategy selection would be available,
of
actively
which might
account
for advantages seen when adult and child short-term
memory
compared.
is
On
the
other
hand,
short-term
a
auditory store that lasts for several seconds in the absence
of
strategy
children,
between
use would be very
who
may
beneficial
for
require more time to make
developing
associations
items currently being processed and items
in
long
term memory (Dempster, 1983).
Auditory Memory in Children
The
differs
from
little
young
study
auditory memory in
of
adult study in two
preschool
major
respects.
is known about auditory memory and its
children;
children
have either used older children or
question of the duration of auditory
new
methodologies
are necessary.
Irwin,
memory
development
methodologies.
Ball,
Kay,
Using
Stillman
been
an
The study of
.
noise,
and
achieved
study
provides
tells
little
auditory
acuity
task,
and Rosser (1985) found
a
interesting and
valuable
about the qualitative
nature
6
broadband
information,
of
that
and 12.
While
adult levels by age 11.
short-term auditory store.
through
addressed
were required to detect gaps in
children
adult
in
children.
auditory acuity increased in children between ages
The
with
Second,
Methods used
has
in
addressed
not
memory.
Studies of auditory memory in children
several
duration
are not directly applicable to preschool
auditory
First,
few studies that have been done
the
che
studies
children
this
it
children's
Davis and McCroskey (1980) used
13
a
tone fusion technique to evaluate the
duration of
term
auditory store in
children from age
to
3
short-
Their
11.
results
indicated that the duration of such a sensory store
might actually diminish across that age range. However,
the
nature of the task used in this study was somewhat abstract.
9
•
and may have provided different information than experiments
using more ecologically valid stimuli.
Several
auditory
studies have used older children
short term memory.
in
studying
Frank and Rabinovitch
(1974)
showed that suffix procedures could be modified for use with
school
more
children.
affected
The younger children in their study were
by
suffix than
a
were
the
older
however,
Engle,
paradigm
one step further by showing that older
performance
children
increased
Fidler and Reynolds (1981) took the suffix
could be brought down to the level
the
if
group;
rate of presentation of
enough
to
prevent
children's
list
rehearsal.
younger
of
was
items
Both
experiments used immediate suffix conditions and
these
elementary
school children and relied on unaided recall procedures.
Dempster
developmentally
Their
age;
and
Rohwer (1983) used
school
children
assess the modality effect in free
to
recall.
results showed an increase in the recency effect with
however,
this
increase was not specific only to
the
auditory modality, as it had been in most adult studies.
Methodological concerns
.
Naturally,
school
children
are
easily
accessible as well as easier to work with
preschoolers.
ways
However,
these children may have additional
of encoding auditorily presented items,
these
methods
example,
And,
of encoding may be
these
suffix
and
some
resistant.
of
For
children may also use an orthographic code.
as realized by Frank and Rabinovitch (1974) and
et al.
than
Engle
(1981), older school children are more likely to use
strategies
possibilities
found
help
to
them
retain
information.
These
presented problems that are not likely to
in the preschool population.
many
Thus,
be
potential
confounds are eliminated when preschool children are used in
studies of auditory short-term memory.
It
is
easy
to see that the
methods
used
adult
in
studies as well as methods used in some studies using school
children
Most
are not directly applicable to preschool children.
arithmetic
Moreover,
typical
cannot
since
would
tasks
be
beyond
their
ability.
preschoolers are largely preliterate,
suffix paradigm,
recall,
any verbal production would
In addition,
be used.
written
which relies on
the
interfere with the auditory store; therefore, using a verbal
phase
response
would
not
acceptable.
be
investigate the duration of auditory memory,
period
is
reguired.
It is difficult
attention in preschool children,
to
In
order
a silent
maintain
to
delay
guiet
as any mother will attest.
These complications may have caused many researchers working
in
the
area
of
auditory
memory
to
avoid
questions
15
surrounding the nature of this memory in children.
Cowan
of
and Kielbasa (in press) have studied the
limits
short-term auditory memory in four-year olds by using
delayed suffix procedure.
chosen
several
for
The four-year-old age group
reasons.
First,
the
a
was
four-year-old
population has a sufficient vocabulary and attention span to
allow
for an adequate number of trials to draw
about auditory phenomena.
able
understand
to
Second,
simple
conclusions
these children are also
standardized
instructions.
Finally, this age group shows no evidence of overt or covert
rehearsal,
although four-year olds sometimes shown behavior
that may be a precursor to rehearsal strategies (Baker-Ward,
Ornstein
&
Holden, 1984).
Conscious
Beach
these points,
of
and Chinsky (1966),
developed
a
Cowan and Kielbasa
new procedure especially for use
auditory memory in this age group.
a
delay
procedure
kindergarten
in
assessing
and elementary school
which
were
studying
Flavell et al. had used
recognition
picture
children.
The
in
clever
helmet"
the
The visor prevented them from viewing
the
during
the
delay
amusement at the same time.
al
in
press)
the children were required to wear during
delay interval.
pictures
Flavell,
(in
of their study involved the use of a "space
design
visor
and inspired by
and
provided
them
with
an
Unfortunately, since Flavell et
investigating visual memory and
did
not
control
noise
during
methodology
list.
delay
directly
impossible:
interfere
the
the
with
interval,
generalizing
to auditory memory studies
children's
output
would
would
most
auditory memory for the recently
Nevertheless,
their
their
be
likely
presented
data strongly suggested
that,
despite children's limited attention spans, delay procedures
are
appropriate for studying children's memory if
taken
to
make the task interesting in
an
care
is
age-appropriate
way.
Preschoolers
cannot
write during a report phase
or
add even simple sums graphically during a delay interval
as
in the Watkins and Todres study (1980).
delay
However,
is necessary to study the temporal limits of auditory
memory.
During
provided
an
the delay,
alternative
demanding and silent.
Cowan and Kielbasa (in
distractor task
which
gesture
find
wiggling both thumbs,
challenging and
delay interval.
both
remember.
Thus,
A
movements
enjoyable
(e.g.,
touching nose with index finger)
to keep the children both silent and
used
was
imitation task involving some fine motor
preschoolers
most
press)
The children first listened to a list
of nonsense words which they were reguired to
the
a silent
was
during
occupied
the delay interval was without
any auditory or verbal input, and additionally prevented any
rehearsal
delay,
words
attempts
children
by these children.
After
a
were reguired to select pictures
whose names rhymed with list items.
variable
of
The results
real
of
17
this
experiment
showed
that children are able
auditory
information for over ten seconds,
findings
of
Watkins
Todres (1980).
and Watkins (1980)
In addition,
to
retain
supporting
and
the
Watkins
and
these results indicated
that
children are able to retain auditory information for several
seconds
in
the absence of semantic information,
and
that
these children were remembering the words rather than merely
the pictures.
Cowan and Daly (manuscript in preparation) hypothesized
that children might retain some gross acoustic features of a
word but be unable to identify the word exactly.
using
By
stimuli sets with phonologically similar foils, the accuracy
of
this
features
hypothesis may be tested.
would
lead to a larger number of
than non-rhyming errors.
similar
foils
Retention of
acoustic
rhyming
errors
In addition, using phonologically
adds an element of difficulty to
the
task,
which the researchers felt advisible in light of Parkinson's
findings.
(1978)
Using such stimulus sets with four-year olds, Cowan and
Daly
studied auditory memory over 2-,
delays.
indicate
pictures,
each
After
items
list
some
items.
The
answers
which
delay,
children
10-,
were
by pointing to them in
reguired
to
array
of
an
of which had names which rhymed
high
20-second
and
with
percentage of correct answers and
were phonologically similar to
the
list
wrong
correct
18
answer observed in this study suggested that
auditory memory
lasts
over
10 seconds,
and is sensitive
to
similarity even in a preschool population.
phonological
Follow-up
work
using only pictures with dual labels as list items indicated
that
children were remembering the words themselves
than just the pictures.
and
rather
This work, combined with the Cowan
Kielbasa study (in press),
indicates that preschoolers
are able to retain auditory information for several seconds,
and that the retrieval of this information may be influenced
by phonological aspects of the stimuli.
Goals of this Research
duration
The
auditory memory
of
requires further confirmation.
the
effect
memory
only
(Alegria
young
of acoustic similarity on
rhyming
&
Pignot,
phonologically
(Cowan
Kielbasa,
information
&
in
has
1979;
children
phonologically
set
words
are
led
Conrad,
the
children's
Using
to
press)
about
Using
lists
words
preparation;
sensitivity
of
with
recognition
has provided interesting
children's
results
Hulme, 1984) when
(non-rhyming)
manuscript in
comprised
lists
similar (rhyming) foils among a
Daly,
auditory
conflicting
1971;
subjects.
dissimilar
children
In addition, questions about
still need to be answered.
of
young
in
and
to
Cowan
&
useful
acoustic
similarity.
Issues of auditory short-term memory in children can be
addressed through modification of the various paradigms used
19
in previous studies.
children's
auditory
In addition, it remains to be seen if
memory
behaves
in the
adults' when presented with similar tasks.
same
way
Morton, Crowder
and Prussin (1971) showed a suffix had differential
based
for
on
effects
its acoustic similarity to the presentation
adults.
as
Balota and Duchek (in press) have
list
found
same
effect
This
effect has not been established in young children
when the suffix is delayed up to
the
seconds.
20
who
do not use rehearsal, and therefore, could not transform the
auditory
of
information
suffix-resistant
(
through strategy use) into some
memory
in the course of
form
seconds.
20
Thus,
the existence of a 20-second auditory-based store
in
young
children would provide support for the concept of
an
auditory storage system like Crowder'
s
PAS (1971;
Crowder
&
Morton, 1969).
In this experiment,
for
with preschoolers was used with
use
procedure.
responses
a stimulus set designed especially
The
stimuli
a
delayed
were carefully chosen
to
that would be of use in distinguishing the
suffix
permit
level
of auditory memory present at each delay length and for each
suffix
type.
All
lists
consisted
dissimilar (non-rhyming) words.
of
phonologically
On half the trials,
foils
that were phonologically similar to (rhymed with) list items
were
among the recognition set.
trials,
For the other half of the
only phonologically dissimilar (non-rhyming)
foils
20
were
the
in the recognition set.
task
more
additional
approach
of
demanding
index
specifically,
Second,
for
subjects
of auditory memory.
and
auditory
memory
we asked the following:
First,
does
a
suffix affect this
an
suffix
components
simultaneously.
of auditory short-term memory in
how
made
provided
The delayed
was selected to allow study of several
preschoolers'
duration
This manipulation both
More
what is the
four-year
auditory
olds?
memory?
Finally, to what extent is auditory short-term memory at age
four differentially sensitive to the acoustic similarity
a suffix and/or the phonological similarity of a foil?
of
CHAPTER
METHOD
II
Subjects
The subjects were 48 normal English-speaking
children between the ages of
8
months
(M=4 yrs
obtained
from
birth.
This
research
manuscript
years,
task
this
Massachusetts
was selected
type
based
of paradigm
years,
4
names
records
on
(Cowan
of
previous
and
Daly,
reguirements and performed too close to chance
while
children
experience
them
were
4
months and younger had difficulty understanding the
3
than
40% correct)
in
older
to produce
than
4
codes for memory.
additional
9
sample
because
(3
during
performed
months
results,
often
children
the
Data were obtained
who were excluded
of experimenter
test
trial
from
error,
delay
3
prepare
with
from
because
intervals,
and brought their child to
an
final
the
2
of
who
complete
Parents were contacted first by letter
telephone
had
them
too close to chance and one who did not
session).
by
8
elementary school which could provide
for
talking
years,
informative
levels
reading and spelling instruction to
additional
later
months and
SD=.98 mo.) whose
mo,;
range
4
in preparation) which indicated that children
(less
the
years,
the Springfield,
age
using
6
,
4
preschool
the
and
Child
Children of bilingual homes in
Study Center in Springfield.
which the primary language was not English were not included
21
in
the study-.
or
she
Each child took home the sticker picture he
made during the session and received
a
children's
.
book for participating.
Materials
The
photo
materials consisted
test,
album sheets (36 test,
of
plastic-covered
42
practice)
6
each
containing
three 3x5 color drawings mounted vertically on the page.
sample
Appendix
appeared with egual freguency at the top
items
(M)
these pages may be found in
of
and bottom
,
each
of the page.
middle
,
Four pages were used
and each page contained one list item and
trial,
List
foils.
(B)
items
item with out prompting and to recognize all foils.
conditions
feathers
foil
dolphin
or fan for shell
items.
easily
was
(e.g.,
children found in
by
,
seal
for
seldom necessary,
.of
a list
The few
spontaneous
naming
ladder
track
snake for worm
Proper identification
obtained by asking,
,
)
for
were
all
,
for
these foil items was
This
"Can you find a (word)?"
as confusions
B.
children
were both able to correctly name each picture used as
shown
on
two
and foils may be found in Appendix
Previous research using these drawings showed that
confusion
List
A.
(T)
A
rarely
occurred;
in
fact, a study that reguired children to name all pictures in
this stimulus set showed that spontaneously generated labels
were
the same labels as intended by the experimenter in
overwhelming majority of the cases.
no
picture
preferences
seen
in
an
In addition, there were
pilot
work
with
these
23
stimuli.
A
cassette
tape recorder was used to standardize
presentation of the lists.
was
brightly colored toggle box showing
a
with
big nose (the toggle).
a
children
It was
recorder
a fuzzy
monster
hypothesized
this age night be disturbed by a voice in
of a viable source.
of
Connected to the tape
talk
that
absence
This box was included to relieve
the potential confusion by providing a "source" for
voice.
the
some
the
Children were told that they could make the monster
pushing his nose up.
by
controlled
from
a
The recorder
hidden remote switch
was
actually
operated
by
the
experimenter
Design
A
3
(suffix
similarity)
x
4
type)
x
2
(delay)
(serial position)
x
2
design
(phonological
was
employed.
Thus, each subject received 12 tape-recorded trials of four-
word lists presented in
after a delay.
Half the trials employed a 10 second delay,
a 20 second delay.
the others,
that
children's
between 10 and 20 seconds.
was
used as a suffix on
voice)
on
These delay intervals were
by previous data (Cowan and Kielbasa,
indicated
which
followed by a suffix
All subjects received the same word-lists in
the same order.
suggested
a female voice,
2
trials,
2
memory
in
decayed
press)
rapidly
For each delay condition, a tone
trials,
a
different voice
and the same voice (female)
(male
on
the
remaining
suffix
trials.
2
type
Finally, on one of the
subjects
received
a
list
trials of each
2
containing
some
phonologically similar (Rhyming) foils among the pictures in
the recognition set, and on the other trial, they received a
list with phonologically dissimilar (Non-rhyming) foils.
half the trials,
On
the subjects were probed for recall in the
order in which the words had been presented (forward order).
On
remaining
the
trials they were probed
recall
for
in
reverse (backward order).
Counterbalancing
C.
procedures are summarized in Appendix
Order of suffix presentation was determined by
Square
Same- voice,
(Tone,
Different, Tone
subjects
alternated
SDT
each
in
presentation
(
(10
with
s
)
Different-voice
Different, Tone, Same
;
order
then 20
condition.
s,
or 20
(
a
Latin
(TSD);
Same,
DTS
Order
then
s
every second subject.
)
with 16
,
delay
of
10
s)
was
subjects
Half the
forward probe orders during the first
received
)
six
trials
and backward probe orders during the last six trials,
while
the
first
the
other
half
and
addition,
subjects received backward probes in
the
phonologically
first
similar
phonologically
with
during
received
24
subjects
(R)
foils on odd trials
dissimilar
(N)
on
foils
trials.
(i.e., RNRNRN/NRNRNR)
,
In
lists
with
and
lists
even
the first half of the session and the reverse
for the second half
24
six
forward probes during the last
trials
order
while the second
subjects received phonologically dissimilar lists on odd
25
trials
during
the
first
half
of
the
session
(i.e.,
NRNRNR/RNRNRN)
Procedure
Each
child
was tested individually in
quiet
a
while parents observed though a one-way mirror or on
room
video
a
monitor
Familiarization
were
trials
various
build
showed
the
administered
rapport.
to introduce the
practice
child
understanding of the game rules.
received a sticker and engaged
often
the
says"
child
conversation
in
given
per
maintain
the
The number of stickers
had to be increased mid-game to
a rather
(The session took about 45 minutes.)
long task.
test
the
After each trial,
appropriate level of motivation and interest during
Test
to
"Simon
The test trials began when
the experimenter.
trial
five
tape recorder, probe order, earning stickers) and
child
with
minimum of
A
.
components of the game (memory task,
activity,
to
Phase
Phase
.
conditions,
presentation
subject was assigned to one of
Each
differed
which
(forward
and
in
backward),
order
order
24
of
probe
of
delay
presentation (10s and 20s), and order of suffix presentation
(TSD,
word
suffix
SDT,
DTS).
Each
child was presented with the same
lists in the same order;
conditions
only the order of delay
changed across
children.
Before
and
each
trial,
list
child identified the pictures (both
the
items).
subject,
and the experimenter asked the child to "find" and
were
cards
After all 12 items had been "found,"
collected
experimenter's side.
to
a
and
put
nose up," and
started
second pause before the four
1
says"
activity
experimenter
gestures
second
then
to
until
the
were
the
"Simon
familiarized
which
continued
to
hands on head,
additional
introduce
be copied at the rate of about
the suffix was heard.
suffix offset.
1
The
silent
action
The album pages
order
or
touch nose,
imitated.
child
the
presented in the appropriate probe
following
followed
silently initiated a simple motor movement
movements)
experimenter
tape
In this variation of the game, the
combination of movements (e.g.,
finger
the
Coincident with the
with which the child had been
during practice trials.
child
Items
items.
the experimenter immediately began
word,
the
at
Each list began with the word "Ready?"
presented at a rate of 1.8 per second.
last
down
face
The experimenter then told the
monster's
the
"push
recorder.
by
and
Four album pages were placed in front of the
point to each object.
the
foils
per
were
immediately
As the child pointed
to
a
picture, the experimenter recorded the response with a check
mark
on a prepared response sheet,
was presented.
and the next album page
CHAPTER III
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The
dependent
picture
selection,
(delay)
x
2
measure
in
this
was analyzed in a
experiment,
correct
(suffix type)
3
(phonological similarity) x
Significant effects included
type,
p
foils,
F(l,47)
F(3,141)
=
=
<
15.04,
2,57,
p_
<
.0005,
<
and
Mean
.10.
list
percentage
responding for each variable is shown in Table
As
can
seen from
be
approximately
the
table,
correct
1.
subjects
averaged
Performance was highest in
the
while performance in
the
(control) suffix condition,
tone
position,
65% correct across all conditions—well above
performance (33%).
chance
suffix
phonological similarity of
.05,
p_
2
(serial position)
4
analysis of variance.
F(2,94) = 3.56,
x
different-voice condition was better than performance in the
same-voice condition,
Suffix type F(2,94) = 3.56,
p_
=
.03.
pattern of results is consistent with the findings
This
adult studies (Morton,
Duchek, in press).
Crowder
&
Prussin,
1971;
&
Although mean differences between suffix
are not as large as seen in most adult
types
Balota
of
direction of result is the same;
studies,
the
that is, the subjects were
greatest
acoustic
similarity to the memory list (same-voice suffix),
followed
most
by
were
affected
any
by
the suffix with
the
other speech suffix (different-voice
least
affected
by
a
27
non-speech
suffix),
(tone)
and
suffix.
28
Table
1
Mean Percentage Correct Picture Selection
Lists With Phonologically Similar Foils
Suffix Type
Delay-
Same
Different
Mean
Tone
10 seconds
58.33
59.38
67.71
61.81
20 seconds
50.52
60.93
64.06
58.51
Mean
54.43
60.16
65.89
60.16
Lists with Phonologically Dissimilar Foils
Mean
Suffix Type
Delay
Same
Different
Tone
10 seconds
69.27
74.48
66.14
69.97
20 seconds
66.67
66.67
70.83
68.06
Mean
67.97
70.57
68.49
69.01
29
Bonferroni
t- tests revealed a significant
difference
only
between control (tone) and same-voice suffix, (T>S), t(94) =
2.68,
have
In contrast,
.05.
<
p_
used
acoustic
similarity
previous adult studies that
of suffix as
variable
a
have shown a significant difference between both control and
voice
suffixes
conditions,
Prussin,
and
between
same- and
different-voice
at least for short intervals (Morton, Crowder
1971;
Balota
&
Duchek,
in press).
&
The lack of a
voice-specific suffix effect is consistent with recent adult
data at long delays (Balota and Duchek, in press).
However,
in the adult study, the same- and different-voice means fell
right
on
top
in
the
delay
seconds
20
the means- for same and different-voice
in this experiment were more spread out.
Unfortunately,
was
other
each
whereas
condition,
suffixes
of
not significant.
suffixes
difference between voice
the
The lack of statistical significance
First,
between voice suffixes may be explained in two ways.
it may indicate that children are somewhat less sensitive to
the properties of a suffix
attentional
reasons for this:
distracting for children.
same- and
suffixes
that
different-voice
perhaps any suffix is
are
very
In this case, differences between
suffixes or
sensitive
voice
and
Alternatively,
would not be expected.
children
There could be
than are adults.
to
gross
control
it may be
differences
in
involved in
suffixes, but not to the more subtle differences
the
same- and
different-voice
distinction.
Neither
of
30
these
explanations
significant
difference
conditions
would
Similarly,
control
seems
alternative suggestion.
a
the
and
suggestion.
difference
would
the
same-voice
initial
suffix
However,
First,
between
rule
out
neither of these
the possibility that children are more
precludes
to
control
of a significant
different-voice
and
satisfying.
between
eliminate
lack
the
very
the
points
sensitive
tone or non-speech suffix than are adults,
and
that
such a suffix might not serve as a true control when used in
experiments
with children as subjects.
difference
between
control
and
It may be
that
different-voice
obscured by the absence of
a
suffix
control
true
conditions
was
situation.
Nevertheless, this would not account for all the
a
differences seen between comparisons of mean percent correct
for suffix types in adults and children.
Perhaps
a
explanation
better
the
of
absence
control and
significant differences for different-voice vs.
different-voice
have
had
difference
seconds,
and
and
those that have (Balota
mixed
results.
Balota
&
in
Duchek,
Duchek
and
press)
found
no
between same- and different-voice suffixes at 20
but significant differences between control (tone)
either voice suffix at 20 seconds.
however,
is
Few studies have used delays as long as 10
methodological.
seconds,
comparisons
same-voice
vs.
of
the
suffix
effect
is
More
usually
not
importantly,
large
in
31
magnitude,
especially
Consequently,
large
when
numbers
establish a reliable effect.
typical
adult
compared
of
trials
across
are
required
to
The number of trials run in a
suffix study is much greater than
possible in child studies.
delays.
For example,
would
be
Balota and Duchek
ran 72 trials in their experiment (in press),
while Watkins
and Todres (1980) ran over sixty trials per subject compared
the
12
run in this
pattern
of
results follows a logical order based on
to
research and theory,
have
resulted
experiment.
Since
the
observed
it is possible that more trials
in significant differences in the
adult
would
tone
vs.
different-voice and same- vs. different-voice comparisons.
This
pattern of results held for both delay intervals,
although performance in the voice suffix conditions declined
sharply between 10 and 20 seconds.
The tone and different-
voice suffix had the same effect at 10 seconds, but affected
memory differently at 20 seconds,
may
This
unlike
2.
adults,
the
effects of speech interference increase over
the
suggest that for
potential
as is shown in Figure
children,
interval required to retain information.
Balota
measure
serial
and
Engle (1981) have indicated that the
of auditory short-term memory is seen in the
position
of a list.
For this reason,
analysis was performed on the 4th serial position
only.
Data
information
from
about
a
suffix
effect
since
final
separate
responses
this position may also provide the
the
best
the
best
only
32
LEGEND
TONE
DIFFERENT
SAME
20
10
DELAY
gure
2.
IN
SECONDS
Mean percentage correct as a function of
delay and suffix.
33
retroactive
itself.
2.67,
=
interference
Significant
p_
=
5.28,
.07,
p_
for this position is
the
effects were suffix type,
suffix
=
F(2,94)
and phonolgical similarity of foils, F(l,47)
= .03.
There was an interaction between suffix
and delay,
F(2,94) = 2.65,
difference
between
p_
=.08.
In this analysis, the
suffix types was larger;
trials were correct,
71%
of
tone
while the same was true of only 60% of
same-voice trials, t(94) = 2.70,
p_
<
.05.
Interestingly, in
this serial position the mean for the different-voice suffix
(68%) was higher than it was across serial position, and was
much closer to the mean for the control,
which may indicate
that
sounds
similar
more
with
sounds.
that are very acoustically
auditory memory than less
However,
conclusion
from
may
it
not
interfere
acoustically
wise
be
the current data alone,
to
similar
accept
as there
this
was
no
suffix by serial position interaction in the main analysis.
significant effect of delay was seen in this study,
No
F(l,47) = 1.17,
p_
<.30.
While this weakens any statements
made about the effects of the variables at different delays,
it
possible that the absence of
is
artifact
of the design.
delay is seen between
0
delay
a
effect
it
within
and 10 seconds.
This study provides
small
were the case that the main effect of
the
an
It may be that the main effect of
data for the course of memory over this interval.
if
is
first ten seconds after
list
delay
However,
occurs
presentation,
decline between 10 and 20 seconds would
be
a
expected
but might not be significant.
This is in fact the observed
result in this experiment, where the mean percent correct at
10 seconds was 66%, while at 20 seconds it had only declined
to
63%
correct.
should be noted that this
It
considerably above chance (33%),
still
is
indicating that short-term
memory for speech sounds is present,
although not
perfect,
at delays as long as 20 seconds.
There is another possible explanation for the lack of
delay
effect.
(including
may
It
the
be that
were
tone)
the
suffixes
debilitating
so
flattened the delay curve substantially.
themselves
that
they
In this case,
would be predicted that the suffix effect would obscure
delay effect.
For practical reasons,
no-suffix
include
a
study.
However,
without
suffix
a
preparation)
in
,
the
condition
previous studies using these
and
in
the
10
this
stimuli
manuscript
Daly,
percentage correct at
mean
it
it was impossible to
(silent) control
(Cowan
a
in
seconds
delay was 73%, while that 20 seconds was significantly lower
(61%).
The difference between these values is considerably
is observed in
current
the
experiment.
It
larger
than
should
be noted that all trials in the Cowan and Daly study
used phonologically similar foils,
more
difficult
phonologically
study.
to
similar
Nevertheless,
remember
and thus,
than
the
may have been
combination
of
and dissimilar foils used
in
this
(Figure
3)
that
it
can
be
seen
35
LEGEND
CURRENT
COWAN & DALY
o
Ld
IT
o:
o
o
2
LU
o
LJ
20
10
DELAY
Figure
3.
IN
SECONDS
Comparison of mean percentage correct as a function
of delay in the current study and a previous
study using the same stimuli.
36
percentage
correct at 20 seconds is about the same in
studies,
but
difference.
concealed
at
seconds
10
Thus,
there
is
a
both
considerable
the explanation that delay effects were
by the more powerful suffix manipulation in
this
study seems plausible.
Finally,
interesting.
effect
the
absence of a delay effect is
One
might
in
expect this would mean
that
of a suffix would be equivalent at 10 and 20
delays.
This does
performance
seconds
not seem to be the case.
itself
the
second
Differences in
based on suffix type were not significant at 10
— the
largest difference between suffix types at this
delay is only eight percentage points.
In contrast, suffix
type is clearly differentiated at 20 seconds, as was seen in
Figure
the
Although delay was not a significant factor
2.
main
delay
analysis,
data
a post hoc analysis of
was run because an organized suffix
delay was not expected and had not
this
the
been
in
20-second
effect
at
demonstrated
before, even with adult subjects.
delay,
effect was significant
suffix
The
F( 2,94)
= 3.67,
p_
= .03.
the
at
This effect was explored
further through post hoc tests between means.
and
20-second
While Balota
Duchek (in press) found no difference between same- and
different-voice suffixes at this delay,
in the current data
there was a difference between same-voice (59% correct)
different-voice (64% correct) conditions.
Bonferroni
t-test
Nevertheless,
indicated that this difference
was
and
a
not
37
significant.
In contrast, the difference between same-voice
and control suffixes was highly significant, t(94) = 3.05,
<
p_
01.
the final serial position for the 20-second data is
If
considered alone,
three
suffix
Figure
however,
a large difference between
types is seen in the final
serial
illustrates the suffix curves for 20
4
fanning
suffix
of
type
occurs
in
the
all
position.
seconds.
terminal
A
and
preterminal serial positions.
The difference between same-
and different-voice suffixes is
9
difference
the
between
percentage
different-voice
conditions is 11 percentage points.
and
tone
increases
those
position
and
from
The difference between
percentage point at
1
observed
10
position
seconds
to
20
These results are counter
by Balota and Duchek for
20 seconds.
at
while
control
same-voice suffixes in the final serial
percentage points at 20 seconds.
to
points,
indicated
Their data
serial
final
that
the
magnitude of the difference between tone and different-voice
conditions
second
was
delays,
difference
approximately
and
that
egual at immediate
the
trend
difference
supports
of
suffix
20-
different-voice
same- vs
was eight times greater in the immediate than in
the 20-second delay condition.
the
and
is
the
between
opposite:
suffix types
experiment,
In the current
as
delay
increases,
Again,
increases.
the notion that the effect of acoustic
becomes
more differentiated
as
the
the
this
similarity
retention
Figure
4.
suffix and
Mean percentage correct as a function of
serial position at 20 seconds.
39
interval increases.
Serial position was a marginally significant factor
the main analysis, £(3,141) = 2.57,
the
effect
serial
in
Figure
.06.
suffix type across delay as a
of
position.
condition
=
p_
Since
this
there
study,
was
no
shows
5
function
silent
it is difficult to
impact of suffix on the serial position curve,
in
of
control
assess
which
the
would
be especially important when considering performance for the
last serial position.
in
percent
These curves do not show a large drop
correct for the final serial position,
but
it
should be noted that the typical serial position curve shows
an
advantage
the final serial position
for
that
evident
here.
stimuli
without a suffix has yielded final serial
mean
Moreover,
previous
scores of 84% correct.
here are for the tone suffix,
for
this
suffix
condition
conditions
is 71%.
research
using
scores
The highest
is
not
these
position
obtained
and the final serial position
indicate
This seems to
recency
any
were effective in removing
all
effect normally seen in serial report memory tasks.
While
significant,
marginally
phonological
position.
factor
For
all
overall
the
similarity
serial position
it
useful
is
dimension
in
only
was
effect
consider
to
terms
the
serial
of
Phonological similarity was a highly significant
in the main analysis,
serial
positions,
F( 1
,
47
)
= 15 04
performance
.
on
,
p_
=
trials
.0003.
with
phonologically similar foils was much worse than performance
AO
LEGEND
x
TONE
0
DIFFERENT
SAME
12
3
4
SERIAL POSITION
Figure 5.
Mean percentage correct as a function of suffix and
serial position across delay.
41
on trials with dissimilar foils, as illustrated in
Figure
This
finding
is
contradictory
Both
interesting in light
the
of
findings of Conrad (1971) and
apparently
Hulme
(1984).
Conrad and Hulme used lists of words or pictures
rhymed
with
trials.
each other for their
Naturally,
numbers
this
provided
of errors on phonologically
phonological
that
similarity
opportunity for
similar
6.
large
lists.
Both
authors concluded that preschool children were not sensitive
to the phonological similarity of words.
argued
that this task and the tasks of Conrad and Hulme are
not comparable,
a test of
of
Although it may be
sensitivity to phonological similarity than
Conrad
preschool
the current task may even more conservative
and
Hulme.
children
It
did
is
not show
indeed
any
those
remarkable
difference
that
between
phonologically similar and dissimilar lists in their studies
and
did
confusion
in
where the
this study,
with
was
opportunity
only
phonologically similar
foils
in
for
the
recognition set.
The interaction of phonological similarity with
type
suffix
was another marginally significant factor in the
analysis,
F( 2
,
94
)
=
2
.
43
,
p_
= .09.
In Figure 7,
main
it can be
seen that performance for same- and different-voice suffixes
was more affected by changes in phonological similarity than
was
performance
specifically,
was
mean
for
the
control
More
condition.
percent correct for all three
lower for phonologically similar lists,
suffixes
but the
means
.8
LEGEND
HIGH
LOW
12
3
4
SERIAL POSITION
Figure
6.
Mean percentage correct as a function of acoustic
similarity of foils and serial position.
.8
LEGEND
HIGH SIM.
LOW
.5
!
1
i
TONE
DIFFERENT
1
SAME
SUFFIX TYPE
Figure
7.
Mean percentage correct as a function of suffix type
and acoustic similarity of foils.
SIM.
44
for
the
voice
suffixes
phonologically
similar
control.
fact,
In
were affected much
suffix than was the
separate
ANOVAs
for
more
mean
by
the
for
the
phonologically
similar and dissimilar lists revealed that the suffix effect
was
mainly accounted for by the trials with
similar
foils.
Thus,
lists
phonologically
with phonologically
foils and acoustically similar suffixes cumulate to a
debilitating effect on memory.
similar
large
.
CHAPTER IV
GENERAL DISCUSSION
This study has provided some interesting questions
and
possible interpretations for future consideration.
At
the outset,
investigate
one of the goals of this study was
the duration of short-term auditory
memory
to
in
preschoolers.
The results suggest that the store is useful
and
for
available
presentation.
report
Although
up to
there
20
seconds
of
a
delay effect between 10 and
20
seconds,
is significantly above chance.
do not rehearse,
been
there is no need to assume that
transformed into
has
memory
through use of strategies.
association,
store
course
Further, since children this
memory
of
it
Nonetheless, the remaining memory available
of 20 seconds.
result
of
and despite the
seems obvious that some information is lost over the
age
list
was no baseline measure
memory immediately after list presentation,
absence
after
automatic
and
processes,
some
such
resistant
suffix
Any change would be the
such
speed of activation.
would be of great use for young
as
strength
This long
children
of
lasting
who,
when
learning to read complex sentences with new vocabulary, must
hold
information
in memory until context makes a
referent
clear
The
implications of this finding for memory models are
45
46
interesting.
First,
it
(Watkins and Todres,
memory
can be seen
1980),
that
duration
of
development
auditory
would
or longer.
short-term
and
fit nicely with current
Capps,
1974;
Zhang
may
This
temporal
store.
short-term memory capacity
of
Spring
1980;
adults'
there is little development in the
the
interpretation
like
children's short-term auditory
lasts as long as 20 seconds,
indicate
that,
research
(Case
&
This
et
Simon,
on
al.,
1985).
Together, these studies suggest the differences seen between
adults and children on span tasks are not due to development
of memory per se,
but rather to development of vocalization
speed.
Second,
since
seems
reasonable
to
auditory
young children do not rehearse,
assume that it
possible
is
for
it
an
trace to endure 20 seconds after list presentation
and still be useful in aiding recall of auditorily presented
information.
argument
information
stimulus
that
other
delay.
that
rehearsal
retained
children,
for
is
responsible
more than a
few
offset is considerably weakened.
auditory
utility
for
seems
it
Thus,
that it would hold true for adults as well.
logical
the
is true
this
If
memory
alone
is not
after
seconds
It is
possible
responsible
of the memory trace available at 20
all
for
for
some
seconds;
process might aid retrieval at some point during
However,
this
data suggests that auditory
indeed lasts for up to 20 seconds.
the
the
memory
47
The
sensitivity
of
children's
memory to a suffix was also explored.
effect
tone
auditory
short-term
in large part,
confused by the paradoxical performance
is
suffix condition,
assumed to be a control
this
in
the
condition.
The lack of an overall recency effect for the tone trial
the
main
between
analysis
large
difference
tone and different-voice suffixes suggest that
may
tone
and the absence of a
in
not
However,
actually serve as
it is safe to say that
suffix,
seen
as
previous
data
a
control
this
manuscript in preparation)
.
this
at
stimuli
(Cowan
set
with
results
Daly,
&
This provides evidence that is
with the Crowder and Morton (1969) PAS
consonant
age.
children are affected by a
by the comparison of these
using
the
model
of
adult short-term auditory memory.
Another
effect
memory.
goal
of
acoustic
of
It
necessarily
this research was
similarity of
a
to
evaluate
suffix
auditory
on
tap auditory short-term memory.
not
does
be argued that this experiment
may
the
This position
were
be considerably weakened if the speech suffixes
would
significantly different from each other,
Crowder
and Prussin (1971).
clear,
seems
the
as seen in Morton,
results
While the pattern of
effect is not as powerful
as
in
adult
studies, especially when the suffixes are compared with each
other.
the
it
Again,
the tone suffix is part of the problem.
tone is not acting as a control for children this
is
difficult to evaluate the sensitivity of
If
age,
children's
48
auditory memory to the acoustic similarity of
The
a
suffix item.
results seem to indicate that children's memory is
not
as dramatically affected by acoustic similarity of
suffix as
is the short-term auditory memory of adults.
However, the
pattern of results is the same for both groups:
most
negatively
Further,
voice
affected
the
same
voice
as
is
list.
memory is more negatively affected by a different-
suffix than it is by
Morton,
by
memory
Crowder
a tone
suffix.
Although,
the
and Prussin (1971) pattern of results
are
observed, information on how this sensitivity is affected by
the passage of time is not available, since the delay effect
was
not significant and there was no interaction
and suffix.
delay
of
these findings are difficult to compare
Thus,
with those of Balota and Duchek (in press).
Finally, the effect of phonological similarity of items
and
large
on memory was addressed.
foils
evidence that it is truly the auditory
short-term
experiment.
held
for
specific
The
more
memory
that
is
had
and may provide
effect on memory in this study,
strongest
of
This variable
being
studied
a
the
component
in
this
results may indicate that auditory traces
than
a few
defining features,
leading to more errors
seconds
lose
of
their
gross
form,
some
but retain their
when very similar-sounding
words are available as foils.
sounding
Alternatively, the memory for
an item might have fused with other items in memory, leading
49
to
greater suggestibility when presented with
For
set.
Nurse,
example,
Door,
a child received the
if
Pie... Go,"
recognition
a
list
and the items fused in
"Barn,
auditory
memory, he may come up with the possibility of "Purse" as an
answer.
there
If
recognition
among
the
provide
items.
clear
a
picture of a
While this
interpretation
effect,
developmentally
Hulme
as
These
interpretation,
among
the
word
was
does
not
experiment
felt
(1984)
result
a
phonological
the
of
effect he observed in his
rehearsal.
purse
is clearly an area that
this
research.
similarity
a
he might be persuaded that the
list
similarity
further
set,
were
results
of
that
increased
with
facility
greater
to
word
the
experiment
would seem
warrants
contradict
a phonological similarity effect
since
his
is
seen in preschoolers, who do not rehearse yet.
In retrospect, this experiment
the
frustrations
preschoolers.
has highlighted some of
auditory
researching
of
Although
the
results
not
were
paradoxical, they were difficult to interpret.
delay
effect
was
not found,
which
in
entirely
The expected
interfered
with
the
prior to this
Since,
interpretation of the suffix effect.
memory
been
study, the existence of a delayed suffix effect had not
demonstrated
the
suffix
Nevertheless,
theoretical
in preschoolers it became difficult to
effect
some
in
absence
valuable
of
a
delay
methodological
as
assess
effect.
well
as
implications for further research are suggested
50
by
the
findings as well as problems associated
with
this
research.
First,
suggest
methodological
implications
of
study
this
more stringent controls are necessary in
order
to
gain meaningful information about children's auditory shortterm memory and its properties.
of
how
design
to
experiments
control
a true
For example,
control
must be addressed.
the question
condition
for
suffix
The inclusion of a
silent
as well as a tone control would most likely prevent
the problems that arose in interpreting the results of
Second,
study.
duration
of auditory memory,
sampled.
to
experiments to
example,
For
assess
including
delays
of
several
condition can help
clarify
no delay effect was found in
which included a 10- and a 20-second delay.
effect
of
delay
the
more delay lengths need to be
a no-delay (immediate)
results.
main
addition
In
seconds,
study,
designing
in
this
does not occur
between
0
this
If the
and
10
seconds, then the results of this study are highly suspect.
There
are theoretical implications for future research
that derive from this study.
the
memory
trace
developmentally.
processes
at
various
In addition,
For example,
delays
the strength of
could
be
compared
hypotheses about what other
could be aiding auditory memory at longer
delays
could be tested by manipulating the familiarity of items
the
list.
Moreover,
this manipulation could be used
in
for
51
both child and adult groups to provide another developmental
comparison.
is
another
The effect of phonological similarity on memory
area that would benefit from further
research.
The two hypotheses mentioned as explanations in this chapter
could be explored through the use of similar
indeed
the effect
stimuli.
If
is found in children who don't rehearse,
as seen in this experiment, then the cause of such an effect
must
be uncovered.
information
about
It could provide valuable
auditory short-term memory in
qualitative
children.
APPENDIX A
Sample picture stimuli
52
Sample of phonologi cally dissimilar
picture sets
(top to bottom) drum, bat,
shoe. Target item = shoe.
(top to bottom) rake, pig,
belt. Target item = pig.
(top to bottom) pail, track,
pail.
nail. Target item
(top to bottom) mouse, comb,
house. Target item * house.
Appendix B
Stimuli lists and foils
55
56
Stimuli lists and foils
Phonological
Sirnilaritv
List
T
om
X Lclllo
R
Ship
Pail
String
Phnnp
4wl 1C
T
T
B
Clown
Tent
Brush
Leaf
M
Eye
Light
Gate
Pole
M
Yarn
Skirt
Eggs
Box
M
T
Bear, Hole
Bread, Horse
Boy, Pipe
Watch, Girl
Home
Boot
Frog
Fire
B
Mouse
Barn
Nurse
Door
Pip
T
Dog
Plane
Net
Gum
M
Soap
Bug
Road
Dish
T
Knife
Horn
Bus
Sheep
T
T
B
1"
c*
Card
irositiion
R
N
R
N
N
R
N
Lip, Coat
Track, Tack
Ring, Soap
"D
DlOCK,
KOCK
~\
XT 1
N
Picture
Foil Items
B
B
T
T
T
T
B
M
M
M
B
M
T
B
T
M
B
B
B
M
M
\r
r~\
T~)
\r
Bell, Thumb
Sock, Yard
Doll, Sled
VJlUVC
D1KL
;
Rug Bug
Stamp, Kite
Dish, Fish
Bowl Chick
,
Comb
Pear, Chair
Log Road
Seal, Wheel
,
,
Tie, Cup
Clock, Bag
Swing, Glass
Sun. Train
Bench, Man
King, Smoke
Star, Witch
Pot, Fence
String, Ring
Rug Eye
Log, Frog
Gate, Fish
,
Worm, Shell
Mug, Nest
Web, Slide
Plant, Fork
57
Tack
Mouse
R
N
R
Pia
Desk
Flag
Shoe
Stamp
Wheel
Chick
Pear
B
T
•Q
O
D
Pail, Track
Comb Home
Block, Phone
Ship, Lip
,
Date
T
M
B
M
M
B
T
Dq
1 f-
Key, Bird
Broom, Shirt
Drum, Bat
Light, Kite
Seal, Fire
Pole, Bowl
Chair, Boot
Appendix C
Summary of Counterbalancing
58
.
59
Appendix C
Summary of Counterbalancing
order of
Subject
1
6c
z
O
c
A
J
b
11
9
11
i h
13
1 C
15
it
17
19
21
23
25
27
29
31
33
35
37
39
41
43
45
47
&
&
c
&
&
Ten
qicn
1 oJJ
4
6
o
8
oJJ ±
oiJ±
1 a
10
& 12
1
c
& 14
r
& 16
1 o
& 18
& 20
& 22
& 24
& 26
& 28
& 30
& 32
& 34
& 36
& 38
& 40
& 42
& 44
& 46
& 48
A
r-
#
Suf f ix
Prpc
Ulo
lJ±b
men
men
Cfirp
JJlb
T^TC
JJxo
TSD
TSD
SDT
SDT
DTS
DTS
TSD
TSD
SDT
SDT
DTS
DTS
order of
Probe
Pres
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
B
B
B
-
B
-
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
-
F
F
F
B
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