Recall of clearly spoken sentences

Abstract

Recognition memory (i.e., identifying items as old or new) is higher for sentences spoken clearly than for sentences spoken casually. The clear speech benefit on recognition memory was observed for both native and non-native English listeners. The current study investigated the effect of clear speech on sentence recall, a more complex and effortful type of declarative memory that requires processing at phonological, lexical-semantic, morphosyntactic, and syntactic levels. Thirty native and 30 non-native English listeners heard 72 meaningful sentences (e.g., “The grandfather drank the dark coffee”) produced in conversational and clear speaking styles by a female native English speaker. Participants were presented with 12 sentences blocked by speaking style, and instructed to memorize them. After each block of 12 sentences, participants wrote down what they remembered. Blocks were counterbalanced for speaking style. Responses were scored by number of keywords correctly recalled (verbatim memory) and sentence-level comprehension (gist memory). Preliminary results show enhanced verbatim memory for clear speech (i.e., higher rate of key words correctly recalled for sentences produced in clear speech) for both listener groups suggesting that hyper-articulated clear speech provides cognitive release and aids retention of surface form.