Abstract
IT has been suggested1,2 that memory for verbal material comprises two components, one of which is labile and depends on the acoustic properties of the words while the other, which is more durable, is based on their meaning. The observed relationship between rate of forgetting and type of coding is explicable in at least the three following ways. (a) Material may pass from a short term store which uses an acoustic code into a long-term semantically coded store. (b) Material may be encoded on input either acoustically, in which case rapid forgetting occurs, or else semantically, in which case forgetting is relatively slow. (c) Material may be encoded both acoustically and semantically on input, in which case immediate recall will show the effects of both methods of encoding, but because the effects of acoustic coding are short lived, delayed recall will show only semantic effects.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baddeley, A. D., Quart. J. Exp. Psychol., 18, 302 (1966).
Baddeley, A. D., Brit. J. Psychol. (in the press).
Glanzer, M., and Cunitz, A. R., J. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav., 5, 351 (1966).
Wickelgren, W. A., Amer. J. Psychol., 78, 567 (1965).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BADDELEY, A., ECOB, J. Simultaneous Acoustic and Semantic Coding in Short-term Memory. Nature 227, 288–289 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227288a0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227288a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.