Abstract:
This study investigated the encoding of spoken word attributes in a task of continuous recognition memory. In experiment 1, subjects were presented with a list of spoken words, and for each word they judged whether the word was ``old'' (had occurred previously in the list) or ``new.'' Results showed that subjects were more accurate at recognizing a word as ``old'' if it was repeated in the same voice (condition 1), and at the same rate of speech (condition 2); however, no recognition advantage was found for words repeated at the same amplitude (condition 3). In experiment 2, subjects gave an additional explicit judgment as to whether ``old'' words were repeated in the same voice (condition 1), rate (condition 2), or amplitude (condition 3). Subjects again showed a recognition advantage for words repeated in the same voice and rate, but no advantage occurred in the amplitude condition. However, subjects in all three conditions were significantly above chance accuracy in recognizing whether an ``old'' word was repeated in the same voice, rate or amplitude. These data suggest that, even though voice, rate, and amplitude information may be encoded differently, information along all three dimensions is retained in memory. [Work supported by NIH.]