Investigation into the possibility of an auditory von Restorff effect.

Abstract

It has been determined that when an item is isolated or made different in a list of homogeneous items, the learning of the isolated item will be facilitated. This phenomenon was first investigated by von Restorff and has since been known as the von Restorff effect. However, past research has utilized visual stimuli. The purpose of this study was to determine if a von Restorff effect could be demonstrated when auditory stimuli were employed. In this study a serial learning task was employed which consisted of nine three-letter nouns that occur with equal frequency in English usage. Subjects for this experiment were thirty males and thirty females from Introductory Psychology classes at Emporia Kansas State College. The subjects were divided into a male control and experimental group and a female control and experimental group with each group containing fifteen subjects. For the control groups the serial list was taped using a male voice. For the experimental groups the same serial list was taped in the same male voice except for the number six serial position which was taped in a female voice. The subjects learned by the anticipation method the order of the nine nouns to the criterion of two perfect consecutive trials. Statistical significance was determined through the use of a 2 X 2 analysis of variance. Analysis of the data indicated that there was a significant difference in mean number of errors for serial position six between the isolated and non-isolated conditions. The significance was at the .01 level of probability. No significant difference was demonstrated between males and females at the .05 level of probability, and no significant differences were demonstrated at the other eight serial positions. The results of this study demonstrated that a von Restorff effect does occur when auditory stimuli are employed in learning a serial list of nouns.