He said, she said: Talker-specific influences on memory for spoken language

Abstract

Memory for spoken language is not a veridical representation of experience. Instead, memory reflects integration across our interlocutors’ messages, resulting in robust memory for meaning with relatively poor memory for specific form. Here we test the hypothesis that talker identity influences how spoken language is integrated in memory. Listeners completed encoding and recognition phases. During encoding, listeners heard sentences that contained constituents of four-part semantic units (i.e., “idea sets”). During recognition, listeners heard novel sentences that contained constituents of each idea set in addition to full idea sets and four-part sentences formed by combining constituents across idea sets (i.e., “noncases”). Across experiments, talker was manipulated in terms of (1) the match between encoding and recognition and (2) the number of talkers during encoding. The results to date replicate evidence of integration during encoding; when talker is held constant, listeners show more false memories at recognition for idea sets compared to constituents, and no false memories for noncases. However, false memories decrease when the talker differs between encoding and recognition, and when listeners hear multiple talkers compared to a single talker during encoding. These findings suggest that talker identity provides a critical structure for the integration of spoken language in memory.