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Study of the phonological similarity effect (PSE) in immediate serial recall (ISR) has produced a conflicting body of results. Five experiments tested various theoretical ideas that together may help integrate these results. Experiments 1 and 2 tested alternative accounts that explain the effect of phonological similarity on item recall in temps of feature overlap, linguistic structure, or serial order. In each experiment, the participants' ISR was assessed for rhyming, alliterative, and similar nonrhyming/ nonalliterative lists. The results were consistent with the predictions of the serial order account, with item recall being higher for rhyming than for alliterative lists and higher for alliterative than for similar nonrhyming/nonalliterative lists. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that these item recall differences are reduced when list items repeat across lists. Experiment 5 employed rhyming and dissimilar one-syllable and two-syllable lists to demonstrate that recall for similar (rhyming) lists can be better than that for dissimilar lists even in a typical ISR task in which words are used, providing a direct reversal of the classic PSE. These and other previously published results are interpreted and integrated within a proposed theoretical framework that offers an account of the PSE.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2004.12.002 Byline: Prahlad Gupta, John Lipinski, Brandon Abbs, Po-Han Lin Abstract: A growing body of research has emphasized the linkage between performance in immediate serial recall of lists, nonword repetition, and word learning. Recently, it has been reported that primacy and recency effects are obtained in repetition of individual syllables within nonwords (Gupta, in press). Five experiments examined whether such within-nonword primacy and recency effects are attributable to common sequencing mechanisms that are shared with immediate list recall. Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that the primacy and recency effects are not simply due to greater morphological salience at the beginnings/endings of nonwords, and that the serial position effects generalize to different stimuli and across a variety of stimulus lengths. Experiment 3 indicated that the primacy and recency effects are similar to those obtained in list recall. Experiments 4 and 5 examined alternative hypotheses for the observed serial position effects, concluding that the alternative hypotheses fail to account for the obtained pattern of results. These results provide support for the common sequencing mechanisms hypothesis. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of the relationship between list recall and nonword repetition, and in terms of broader issues in word learning. Author Affiliation: Department of Psychology ,University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA Article Note: (footnote) [star] We thank Gary Dell for helpful comments on this work, and Matthew Brown, Sara Even, Naveen Khetarpal, James Malicki, Byron Murphy, Sarah Oakley, Millisa Reynolds, Ellen Samuel, Kathleen Schnitker, Sierra Spies, and Linda Wood for assistance in conducting and transcribing experiments.

A growing body of research has emphasized the linkage between performance in immediate serial recall of lists, nonword repetition, and word learning. A description in terms of the relationship between list recall and nonword repetition, and broader issues in word learning, are presented.

Twelve experiments examined the effect of neighborhood density on repetition latency for nonwords. The results obtained consistent effects of stimulus duration on repetition latency, and either no effect of neighborhood density or a latency advantage for low density rather than high-density nonwords.

The present study used prospective data to examine the relationship between the family environment (as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form [HOME-SF]) and child and adolescent achievement, and to determine the genetic and environmental contributions to this relationship. Data are from 2108 full- and half-sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth Child data set (NLSY-Child). The average age of participants was 11.9 for older siblings (SD = 3.0) and 8.2 for younger siblings (SD = 2.8). The structural equation modeling program, Mx, was used to obtain the most precise estimates of genetic and environmental contributions to variation in the HOME-SF, variation in achievement, and to the covariation between the HOME-SF and achievement. According to the best-fitting, most parsimonious model, common genetic factors explained approximately one-quarter of the correlation between the HOME-SF and achievement, whereas common shared environmental factors explained the majority (75%) of this relationship. Genetic influences also accounted for over one-third of the variation in both the HOME-SF and achievement. Shared environmental influences explained 35% and 50% of the variation in achievement and the HOME-SF, respectively. The discussion mentions possible mechanisms by which genetic and environmental factors exert their influence on the relationship between the HOME-SF and achievement., The association of environmental measures with cognitive development and achievement is well established. For example, measures such as socioeconomic status (SES), family structure, and parental involvement have been consistently shown [...]