Processing of auditorily presented time intervals of a few seconds' duration: Is the phonological loop component of working memory involved?

Journal/Book: Z Exp Psychol. 1996; 43: Rohnsweg 25, D-37085 Gottingen, Germany. Hogrefe-Verlag GmbH & Co. 527-546.

Abstract: Working memory has been proposed to contribute to the processing of time, rhythm and music; the question which component of working memory is involved is under discussion. The present study tests the hypothesis that the phonological loop component (Baddeley, 1986) is involved in the processing of auditorily presented time intervals of a few seconds' duration. Typical effects well known with short-term retention of verbal material could be replicated with short-term retention of temporal intervals: The immediate reproduction of time intervals was impaired under conditions of background music and articulatory suppression. Neither the accuracy nor the speed of responses in a (non-phonological) mental rotation task were diminished under these conditions. Processing of auditorily presented time intervals seems to be constrained by the capacity of the phonological loop: The immediate serial recall of sequences of time intervals was shown to be related to the immediate serial recall of words (memory span). The results confirm the notion that working memory ressources, and especially the phonological loop component, underlie the processing of auditorily presented temporal information with a duration of a few seconds.

Note: Article Grube D, Tech Univ Dresden, Inst Padagog Psychol & Entwicklungspsychol, Mommsenstr 13, D-01062 Dresden, GERMANY

Keyword(s): working memory; phonological loop; time processing; memory span; immediate serial recall; SHORT-TERM-MEMORY; SPEECH

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