Memory for Words in Noise

Purdue Research Foundation, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

In our daily lives, we are constantly being bombarded by irrelevant auditory information in the form of machine sounds, background speech, and other disruptive noises. The intensity and prevalence of this noise seems to have grown ever stronger as machines have become more important in our society. At the same time, the majority of occupations have moved from relying mainly on physical ability to relying more on higher-level cognitive processing. These two factors interact in ways that force us to consider the effect of increased noise on mental activity. Attempting to quantify and predict the effects of noise in any form on our cognitive abilities has become a critical issue. This project will examine the link between speech-processing abilities and individual differences in the ability to ignore irrelevant background sounds. This project will consist of two major phases. The first will be to assess individual differences in processing speech and non-speech sounds in different types of noise. The second will use these measurements to relate the ease of identifying words in noise to the memory for those words. The expectation is that if some individuals can process information more rapidly and with less effort than others, they can allocate those resources to rehearsing and elaborating upon the items in order to improve memory performance. If each word is difficult to comprehend, it will take more effort to encode its meaning, resulting in poorer memory performance. Thus, it is expected that speech-processing ability will predict the ability to remember items presented in noise. In practical terms, then, we will be able to identify what types of noise are especially detrimental to memory performance and under what circumstances. These results will be of interest to those designing work environments and can provide date relevant to efforts to ameliorate the negative consequences of noise. This POWRE project will initiate a new line of research inquiry for Surprenant which, although related to her previous work, constitutes a significant departure while still being grounded in basic experimental research. It should enhance her potential for advancement and leadership in her field.