Repetition inhibition and facilitation effects for visual-verbal stimuli under conditions of concurrent articulation

Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2018 Apr;71(4):817-823. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2017.1313873. Epub 2018 Jan 1.

Abstract

This study examines the effects of within-sequence repetitions for visually presented consonants under conditions of quiet and concurrent articulation (CA). In an immediate serial recall (ISR) procedure, participants wrote down the six consonants in the order of original presentation. CA reduced serial recall and abolished the phonological similarity effect. However, the effects of within-trial repetitions were broadly similar under quiet and CA. Specifically, adjacent repetitions facilitated recall of the repeated item, whereas spaced repetitions (separated by three intervening items) impaired recall accuracy for the repeated item (i.e., the Ranschburg effect). These data are the first to demonstrate the Ranschburg effect for visual-verbal stimuli under CA.

Keywords: Ranschburg effect; concurrent articulation; immediate serial recall; phonological similarity effect; response suppression.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inhibition, Psychological*
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Serial Learning / physiology*
  • Verbal Learning / physiology*
  • Young Adult