ERIC Number: EJ1244811
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Mar
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
When Is Forewarned Forearmed? Predicting Auditory Distraction in Short-Term Memory
Hughes, Robert W.; Marsh, John E.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v46 n3 p427-442 Mar 2020
Two experiments critically examined a predictive-coding based account of the vulnerability of short-term memory (STM) to auditory distraction, particularly the disruptive effect of changing-state sound on verbal serial recall. Experiment 1 showed that providing participants with the opportunity to predict the contents of an imminent spoken distractor sentence via a forewarning reduced its particularly disruptive effect but only to the same level of disruption as that produced by simpler changing-state sequences (a sequence of letter-names). Moreover, a postcategorically unpredictable changing-state sequence (e.g., "F, B, H, E, . . .") was no more disruptive than a postcategorically predictable sequence ("A, B, C, D, . . ."). Experiment 2 showed that a sentence distractor was disruptive regardless of whether participants reported adopting a serial rehearsal strategy to perform the focal task (in this case, a missing-item task) whereas, critically, the disruptive effect of simpler changing-state sequences was only found in participants who reported using a serial rehearsal strategy. Moreover, when serial rehearsal was not used to perform the focal task, the disruptive effect of sentences was completely abolished by a forewarning. These results indicate that predictability plays no role in the classical changing-state irrelevant sound effect and that foreknowledge selectively attenuates a functionally distinct stimulus-specific attentional-diversion effect. As such, the results are at odds with a unitary, attentional account of auditory distraction in STM and instead strongly support a duplex-mechanism account.
Descriptors: Auditory Stimuli, Short Term Memory, Prediction, Acoustics, Recall (Psychology), Verbal Communication, Task Analysis, Sentences, Attention Control, Foreign Countries, Interference (Learning)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden; United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A