Acoustic similarity and retroactive interference in short-term memory

Abstract

Short-term memory for a list of four letters, followed by a list of eight letters that the Ss copied as they were presented, followed by immediate recall of the original four-letter list, was shown to be a function of the acoustic similarity of the intervening list to the original list. An interfering list whose letters have similar pronunciation to the letters in the original list produces greater RI than an interfering list whose letters have a very different pronunciation from the letters in the original list. An interfering list composed of items identical to items in the original list, but in a different order, tends to produce less RI in the recall of items and more RI in the recall of the correct position of these items than an interfering list composed of similar items. These findings for STM are completely consistent with analogous studies of RI as a function of similarity in LTM.