Auditory Recognition Cues in Word Memorization & Recall

When testing working memory, attention can be split between auditory and visual stimulus (Morey et al., 2011). Working memory is often tested with either a word recall or word recognition test, and word recognition has been shown to produce significantly higher scores (Lachman & Forsberg, 1981). I f an auditory stimulus contained the words of a recall test and was played during that test, scores should improve because the subject has a basis for recognition. Thirty-two undergrad students at the University of Western Ontario were given a word list recall test made of words fi-om the song I f I Had $1000000 by The Barenaked Ladies. Subjects were then tested under one of four experimental conditions: playing the song during study, recall, both, or neither. Results were not significant for any effect. Possible reasons and suggestions for further research are discussed within