Selective interference with verbal short-term memory for….pdfVIP

Q0924—67/01 THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 2003, 56A (8), 1307–1334 Selective interference with verbal short-term memory for serial order information: A new paradigm and tests of a timing-signal hypothesis Richard Henson, Tom Hartley, and Neil Burgess Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK Graham Hitch and Brenda Flude Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK Many recent computational models of verbal short-term memory postulate a separation between processes supporting memory for the identity of items and processes supporting memory for their serial order. Furthermore, some of these models assume that memory for serial order is supported by a timing signal. We report an attempt to find evidence for such a timing signal by comparing an “item probe” task, requiring memory for items, with a “list probe” task, requiring memory for serial order. Four experiments investigated effects of irrelevant speech, articulatory suppression, temporal grouping, and paced finger tapping on these two tasks. In Experiments 1 and 2, irrelevant speech and articulatory suppression had a greater detrimental effect on the list probe task than on the item probe task. Reaction time data indicated that the list probe task, but not the item probe task, induced serial rehearsal of items. Phonological similarity effects confirmed that both probe tasks induced phonological recoding of visual inputs. Experimen