Semantic and Acoustic Similarity in Short-term Memory

Abstract

CONRAD ^1–3 has shown that sequences of items which are difficult to discriminate when heard in noise are also hard to remember, even though presented visually. This result can be interpreted either: (a) as showing that there is a very strong acoustic factor in immediate memory, or (b) as an example of one of many types of similarity which impair recall. Since long-term sequence learning is hindered by various types of similarity^4,5 if this latter interpretation is correct, it would support the view that long and short-term memory are basically very similar⁶.