Abstract Findings from serial recall tasks, such as a recall disadvantage for long words (known as the word length effect or WLE), have suggested that individuals rely on phonological representations to perform immediate serial order recall of words. Findings from synonym recognition tasks suggest that individuals can also use semantic representations in immediate memory. This leads to the idea that individuals can switch from relying on phonological representations to relying on semantic representations according to demands of ongoing cognitive activities. This study investigated the WLE under articulatory suppression and when following the semantic instruction in serial recall of words of high and low imageability. In addition, the study investigated whether the WLE is affected by individual differences in capacity for maintaining semantic representations that are measured by the synonym recognition task. The results demonstrated that the WLE disappeared when maintaining highly imageable words but was still observed when maintaining words of low imageability under articulatory suppression. Moreover, the semantic instruction eliminated the WLE only in individuals who could perform the synonym recognition task well. These results provide clues to understanding the adaptive use of semantic and phonological representations in verbal working memory.

中文翻译：

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语义表征和语音表征在言语记忆维护中的适应性使用

摘要 连续回忆任务的发现，例如长单词的回忆劣势（称为字长效应或 WLE），表明个人依赖语音表征来执行单词的直接连续顺序回忆。同义词识别任务的结果表明，个人也可以在即时记忆中使用语义表示。这导致个人可以根据正在进行的认知活动的需求从依赖语音表示转换为依赖语义表示的想法。本研究调查了发音抑制下的 WLE，以及在连续回忆高和低可成像性单词时遵循语义指令时的 WLE。此外，该研究调查了 WLE 是否受到由同义词识别任务测量的维持语义表征能力的个体差异的影响。结果表明，当维持高度可成像的单词时，WLE 消失，但在发音抑制下保持低可成像的单词时仍然观察到 WLE。此外，语义指令仅在能够很好地执行同义词识别任务的个人中消除 WLE。这些结果为理解语义和语音表征在言语工作记忆中的适应性使用提供了线索。结果表明，当维持高度可成像的单词时，WLE 消失，但在发音抑制下保持低可成像的单词时仍然观察到 WLE。此外，语义指令仅在能够很好地执行同义词识别任务的个人中消除 WLE。这些结果为理解语义和语音表征在言语工作记忆中的适应性使用提供了线索。结果表明，当维持高度可成像的单词时，WLE 消失，但在发音抑制下保持低可成像的单词时仍然观察到 WLE。此外，语义指令仅在能够很好地执行同义词识别任务的个人中消除 WLE。这些结果为理解语义和语音表征在言语工作记忆中的适应性使用提供了线索。