Effects of word frequency and acoustic similarity on free-recall and paired-associate-recognition learning

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology Vol. 101; no. 1; pp. 169 - 174
• Main Authors: Holborn, Stephen W, Gross, Karen L, Catlin, Pamela A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01-11-1973
• Subjects: Auditory Perception; Auditory Stimulation; Discrimination (Psychology); Free Recall; Human; Humans; Information Theory; Memory; Paired Associate Learning; Psychoacoustics; Recognition (Learning); Word Frequency
• ISSN: 0022-1015; 1946-1941
• DOI: 10.1037/h0035771

Combined acoustic similarity word frequency in a 2 * 2 independent groups factorial design to investigate the effects of these variables on free-recall-learning (FRL) (Exp I) and paired-associate-recognition (PAR) tasks (Exps IIa and IIb). 2 groups of 80 undergraduates served as Ss in Exps I and IIa, and 60 undergraduates were Ss in Exp IIb (N = 220). Acoustic similarity was an effective variable in PAR, with high acoustic similarity resulting in poorer performance than low acoustic similarity. The acoustic similarity effect was more marked for low- than for high-frequency words. In contrast, there was no effect of acoustic similarity for FRL. Recall on test trials was significantly greater for high- than for low-frequency words. On the other hand, the only statistically reliable effect of frequency for PAR occurred with low acoustic similarity, where Ss learning low-frequency words performed better than Ss learning high-frequency words. (24 ref)