Phonological short-term memory preserves phonetic detail

Abstract

If phonological short-term memory preserves phonetic detail (as would seem necessary if listeners are to correct misperceptions on the basis of later information), a sequence of words in different dialects might be difficult to recall, because phonological redundancy could not be exploited. Five women (one Scottish English, one ESL with Italian interference, three GA speakers) recorded the digits one, two⋯ten. From these we compiled 20 pseudo-random, 12-word single-talker sequences, 20 three-talker same-dialect (GA) sequences, and 20 three-talker, mixed-dialect (GA, SE, ESL) sequences. Serial order recall by 18 female GA speakers was tested. Recall of single-talker sequences was not reliably better if talker and listeners shared dialect (GA), nor did recall of of later words in a sequence vary systematically with sequence-type. But earlier words were better recalled in three-talker, same-dialect than in three-talker mixed-dialect sequences, both for all words and for GA words common to both sequence-types. Implications for the role of phonetic storage in normal listening will be discussed. [Supported by NICHD and NSF.]