Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this dissertation was twofold: The general purpose was to further investigate the properties of the phonological loop by extending the irrelevant sound effect paradigm to music.The specific purpose was to investigate the similarity of content (Salame & Baddley, 1982;1989) and similarity of process (Jones & Macken, 1993;1995) hypotheses of working memory in order to determine which could best account for the irrelevant sound effects in both language and music.Experiment I consisted of serial recall of visually presented nine-digit (selected from the digits 1-9) or nine-note (selected from the notes C4-E5) sequences in the presence of silence, instrumental music, vocal music, or Arabic speech.Digit results supported the similarity of content hypothesis: the more speech-like the irrelevant sound was, the worse recall was, which replicated Salame and Baddeley (1989).Note results provided mixed results.It was hypothesized that visual notes are memorized in a variety of ways which may be influenced by musical experience and the memorization context (Schendel & Palmer, in press).Experiment IIA used a six-digit or four-tone standard-comparison task.The digit trials were set up with a visual-standard/auditory-comparison procedure and the tone trials were set up as an auditory-standard/auditory-comparison procedure so as to force participants to rehearse in an auditory form.The same irrelevant sound conditions as in Experiment I were used.Both digit and tone results supported the similarity of content iii hypothesis: reater overlap between the irrelevant sound and the rehearsed information resulted in greater performance decrements.Experiment IIB used only digits and was the same as the digit half of Experiment IIA, but the irrelevant sound conditions were a between participant factor.Results of Experiment IIB replicated the results of Experiment IIA.Experiment III used an auditory-standard/auditory-comparison procedure with both six-digit and four-tone sequences.The irrelevant sound conditions were silence, lowoverlap, and high-overlap irrelevant sound.For the digit trials, high-overlap irrelevant sound consisted of a random series of spoken digits in the same range as the stimuli (1-9), while low-overlap irrelevant sound consisted of a series of nine random spoken words that did not rhyme with the digits 1-9.For the tone trials, high-overlap irrelevant sound consisted of a random series of auditory piano tones in the same range as the stimuli (C4-E5), while low-overlap irrelevant sound consisted of a random series of nine piano tones which were members of the C# Major scale and outside of the stimulus range.In both stimulus conditions the low-overlap condition resulted in significant interference compared to the silent control, and the high-overlap condition resulted in significantly more interference than the low-overlap condition.The results supported the similarity of content hypothesis.It was concluded that the main theory behind the similarity of content hypothesis should be central to any theory of auditory working memory: an increased acoustic overlap between the to-be-remembered and to-be-rehearsed information results in iv increased performance decrements.The results of all experiments also supported one of the components of the similarity of process hypothesis: serial auditory working memory is particularly vulnerable to irrelevant sound.Finally, the results supported the new idea that working memory for language and working memory for music are both governed by a single acoustic loop.One such new model was proposed (the Acoustic Overlap hypothesis) which includes key components of the similarity of content and similarity of process hypotheses as well as new ideas based on these experiments.
Author: Zachary A. Schendel
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2730912349