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The effects of noise on recall of categorized lists
Author(s) -
Smith Andrew P.,
Jones Dylan M.,
Broadbent Donald E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1981.tb02188.x
Subject(s) - recall , noise (video) , cued recall , psychology , free recall , cluster analysis , dbc , recall test , environmental noise , audiology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , statistics , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science , acoustics , phase noise , medicine , engineering , sound (geography) , electrical engineering , image (mathematics) , physics
Five experiments investigated the effects of moderate intensity noise (80 or 85 dBC) on recall of categorized lists. Generally the results confirmed previous findings which have shown that in certain circumstances noise reduces clustering. There was no effect of noise on the number of words recalled except in a cued recall condition where noise impaired recall. No reliable individual differences in the effects of noise were found and there was no evidence to suggest that 80 dBC noise impaired clustering more than 85 dBC noise. It is suggested that the detrimental effects of noise on clustering were due to reduced initial recall by category followed by greater subsequent recall of individual words. Conditions which changed this recall pattern abolished the detrimental noise effect. This suggests that noise produces a change in strategy rather than a passive change in association strength or some similar mechanical concept.