Modality and suffix effects in memory for melodic and harmonic musical materials

Abstract

Four experiments examined modality and suffix effects in serial recall of musical materials. In the first two experiments, recall patterns for melodic and harmonic sequences were compared with recall for digits. Whereas melodic, harmonic, and language sequences all demonstrated strong primacy effects, the modality effect (superior recall at recency positions for auditory relative to visual presentation) occurred only for linguistic materials; for melodic and harmonic sequences, recency effects were of comparable magnitude regardless of whether the presentation modality was visual or auditory. In the third and fourth experiments, suffix effects for melodic and harmonic lists were measured, using either a single note or a chord suffix. Experiment 3 examined suffix effects for visual materials and Experiment 4 was the auditory analog of Experiment 3. For both modalities, note and chord suffixes resulted in diminished recency recall (the suffix effect) for melodic materials but only the chord suffix interfered with recall of recently presented harmonic items. Findings of recency and suffix effects for written music refute PAS (precategorical acoustic store), primary language, and static vs changing state theories of modality and suffix effects. Rather, these results support more general sensory or short-term memory theories.