Suffix interference in the recall of linguistically coherent speech.

In Exp 1, definitions of low-frequency words were presented for on-line written recall. Each definition was followed by a nonword speech suffix presented in the same voice as the definition, the same nonword presented in a different voice, or a tone. There was a significant reduction in the recall of the terminal words of the definitions in the speech suffix conditions compared with the tone control. This pattern was replicated in Exp 2, in which Ss did not begin their recall until the suffix item or tone was presented, although the magnitude of the suffix effect was reduced in this experiment. In Exp 3, the suffix effect was considerably reduced compared with the suffix effect found with the definitions presented in Exps 1 and 2. This pattern was replicated in Exp 4, in which Ss did not begin their recall of the story sentences until the speech suffix or tone was presented. Results suggest that auditory memory interference can take place for linguistically coherent speech, although the magnitude of the interference decreases as one increases the level of linguistic structure in the to-be-recalled materials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)