Abstract
Whether memory for the meaning of sentences is subject to disruption by a subsequent task and the extent of the disruption were investigated in the present study. Presentation and recall of 10-word test sentences were separated by the reading of 10 additional words that formed a 10-word sentence, five 2-word sentences, or a random string. The additional words were presented simultaneously or as pairs. One group of subjects was also asked to recall the additional words after recalling the test sentence. Memory for test sentence meaning was not affected by syntactic structure or presentation format unless recall of the additional words was required. In this case, random strings interfered the most and 10-word sentences the least. The format variable interacted with structure. These results suggest that when recall is required, semantic processing continues beyond termination of the stimulus presentation. It is subject to disruption that varies with the processing requirements of the subsequent task.
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Orasanu, J., Gianutsos, R. How to interfere with memory for sentence meaning. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 14, 393–396 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329489
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329489