The effect of phonological similarity on the auditory memory span

This study investigates the effect of phonological similarity on auditory memory span. It also aims to find out the determinant (consonant or vowel) of the phonological similarity effect. Twenty-five Cantonese-speaking adults aged from nineteen to thirty-two participated in this study. Results demonstrate that subjects significantly recalled the phonologically similar words worse than dissimilar words. Significant differences occur in the accuracy of serial recall between the stimulus lists with a constant consonant and with a constant vowel in CV structure. Subjects recalled words with a constant consonant much better than those with constant vowel. No significant difference was obtained for words with CVC structure. The results have implications on how to facilitate language comprehension and vocabulary acquisition of language disordered speakers.