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9.5. 9.

7 Received 12 November 1965

Distinctive Features and Errors in Short-Term


Memory for English Consonants

WAYNE A. WlCKELGREN

Departmentof Psychology,
Massachusetts
Instituteof Technology,
Cambridge,
Massachusetts
02139

Errors in short-termrecall of 23 Englishconsonantswere tabulated and related to three distinctive-feature


systems.The consonants were alwayspresentedin initial positionin a consonant-vowel diagram,and the
vowelwasalways/a/. Subjects wereinstructedto copya list ofconsonantsasit wasbeingpresented, followed
by recallof the list. Perceptualerrorswereexcluded from the recall-error
matrixby scoringfor recallonly
correctlycopiedconsonants. The datawerealsoanalyzedin sucha way asto eliminatedifferences in response
biasfor differentconsonants. Having controlledfor response bias,eachfeaturesystemmakespredictions
aboutthe rankorderof differentintrusionerrorsin recall.Eachof thethreefeaturesystems wassignificantly
more accuratethan chancein thesepredictions,but the most accuratesystemwas one developedin the
presentstudy.This systemis a slightlymodifiedversionof the conventional phoneticanalysisof consonants
in termsof voicing,nasality,openness of the vocaltract (mannerof articulation),andplaceof articulation.
The resultssuggestthat a consonant is codedin short-termmemory,not asa unit, but asa setof distinctive
features,eachof whichmay be forgottenat leastsemiindependently.

INTRODUCTION
by a conventionaldistinctive-featureanalysison two
dimensions:place of articulation(front,back)andopen-
NTRUSION
lists are not errorsinimmediate
random. recall
Recent studies bv ofverbal
Conrad • nessof the vocal tract (narrow,medium,and wide).
and Wickelgren2.3on short-term recall of lists of letters Petersonand Barney5 and Miller 6had foundpreviously
and digits have demonstratedthat intrusions tend to that the samedimensions areinvolvedin theperception
have a vowel or consonantphonemein commonwith of vowels, suggestingthat perceptionand STM use
the correctitem. •his indicatesthat the internalrepre- the samesystemof internalrepresentatives. Althoughit
sentativeof a (verbal) item in short-termmemory is not possibleat present to determinewhether this
(STM) is not a singleelement,but a set of internal systemof internal representatives is sensoryor motor,
representatives of the phonemescomposingthe item. no supportcan be obtainedfrom any of thesestudies
The phonemic-coding hypothesispermits partial for- for the more "abstract" (nonsensory and nonmotor)
gettingof an item and accountsfor the phonemicsimi- level of the Chomsky-Hallefeaturesystem.7
larity of intrusionsto the correctitem. In auditory perceptionof consonants in noise,Miller
If the STM representative of a letter or digit is a set and Nicelys demonstratedthat errors are nonrandom
of representativesof phonemes,it is natural to ask and tend to correlate with their distinctive-feature
whether the representativeof a phonemeis a set of analysis,describedin Table I. The two purposesof the
representativesof its distinctive features.A previous presentstudyare to (a) determineif errorsin STM for
study4 indicated that this was the case for vowel for consonants tend to have features in common with
phonemes,and almost perfect rank-orderpredictions the correctconsonant,and (b) determinewhat distinc-
weremadeof the frequencyof differentintrusionerrors tive-feature system best predicts these errors. In
• R. Conrad, "Acoustic Confusionsin Immediate Memory," 5 G. E. Petersonand H. L. Barney, "Control Methods Used in a
Brit. J. Psychol.55, 75-84 (1964). Study of the Vowels,"J. Acoust.Soc.Am. 24, 175-184 (1952).
• W. A. Wickelgren,"AcousticSimilarity and Intrusion Erorrs 0 G. A. Miller, "The Perception of Speech,' in For Roman
in Short-Term Memory," J. Exptl. Psychol.70, 102-108 (1965). Jakobson,M. Halle, Ed. (Mouton & Co., The Hague, 1956), pp.
a W. A. Wickelgren, "Similarity and Intrusions in Short-Term 353-359.
Memory for Consonant-Vowel Digrams," Quart. J. Exptl. 7N. Chomskyand M. Halle, SoundPatternof English (to be
Psychol. 17, 241-246 (1965). published).
4 W. A. Wickelgren, "Distinctive Featuresand Errors in Short- 8 G. A. Miller and P. E. Nicely, "An Analysisof Perceptual
Term Memory for English Vowels," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 38, Confusionsamong Some English Consonants,"J. Acoust. Soc.
583-588 (1965). Am. 27, 338-352 (1955).

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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY

additionto thefeaturesystemproposed-by
Miller and TABLEII. H distinctive-featuresystem.
Nicely (MN), a featuresystemproposedby Halleø (H)
Conso- Voic- Nas- Vo- Conso- Contin- Stri-
and Chomskyand Halle* for the parsimoniousdescrip-
nant ing ality calic nantal uant dent Grave Diffuse
,ion cf English soundstructure and a feature system
1 1
propcsedby the author (W) are investigated.These P 0 0 0 1 0 0
1 1
feature systemsare describedin Tables II and III. b 1 0 0 1 0 0
MN hasfive dimensions'voicing,nasal!,y,affrication, m 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1

duration, and place of articulation. Place has three t 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

values; the rest have two values. MN has only been d 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

definedfor a setof 16consonants.Within that set,each n 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1

dimension
is defined
oneveryconsonant,
andall con- • o o o 1 o 1 0 0
sonantshave a uniquecharacterizationin termsof their 0 0
values
oneach
ofthefivedimensions.
However,
ifMN i 1 0 0 ! 0 1 1 0
were
tobeextended
toallEnglish
consonants,
it would k 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
require
some
additional
dimensions
orvalues
tohandle g 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1
laterals,semivowels,
andtheconsonants/6,/,/)'/,
and f o o o 1 1 1
1 1
/h/. v ! o o 1 1 1
H has eight binary dimensionson which consonants 0 0 o o 1 1 o 0 1

are classified.The rather large number of dimensions t5 ! o o 1 1 o 0 1

resultsfrom the decisionto use only two values per s 0 0 0 ! 1 ! 0 1

dimension. Halle givesa moderatelycomplicatedarticu- z 1 0 o 1 1 1 0 1

latorydescription
of thevalues
of thedimensions
in the • o o 0 1 1 1 0 0

H system,
but thesystem
is unnatural
andinelegant • 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
as a descriptionof articulation and no attempt is made 1 1
byHalletovalidate
thesystem
onthese
grounds)
The w 1 o o 0 1 o 0 0
features
should
be considered
to be "abstract,"
not r 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1
necessarily
havinga simpleacoustic
or articulatory 1 1 0 1 1 1 0
0 1
description,
though
recognition
andproduction
ofspeech y ! o o o 1 0
1 0
demandthat there be some,perhapscomplex,relation- h 0 0 0 0 1 0
ship between the abstract features and their acoustic
and articulatorycounterparts.The H systemis designed
primarily to give a parsimoniousdescriptionof the ad-
missiblesoundsequences in English, but we are con-
TABLEI. MN distinctive-featuresystem. cernedwith how accuratethe H systemis in predicting
the rank order of different intrusion errors in short-term
recall.
Consonant Voicing Nasality Affrication Duration Place
The W system,like the MN system,is more similar
p 0 0 0 0 0
to conventionalphonetic analysisof consonantsthan
b 1 0 0 0 0
the H system.Only four dimensionsare used,but open-
m 1 1 0 0 0
nessof the vocal tract has three values for consonants,
t 0 0 0 0 1
and place of articulationhas five values.Voicing and
d 1 0 0 0 1 nasalityareexactlythesameasin theothertwosystems.
n 1 1 0 0 1 The single dimension of opennessin the W system
k 0 0 0 0 2 handles"mannerof articulation," whichis handled (in
g 1 0 0 0 2 a somewhat different manner) by two dimensions
f 0 0 1 0 0 (affrication and duration) in the MN system and by
v 1 0 1 0 0
four dimensions(vocal!c,consonantal,continuant, and
0 0 0 1 0 1
strident)in the H system.Placeof articulationis coded
on a 5-pointscalein the W system,on a slightlyrougher
15 1 0 1 0 1
3-point scalein the MN system,and on two binary
s 0 0 1 1 1
dimensions(graveand diffuse)in the H system.
z 1 0 1 1 1
Notice that the openness of the vocal tract and place
,• o o 1 1 2 of articulation are the same two dimensions that were so
• 1 o 1 1 2 accuratein predicting the errors in STM for English
vowels.Of course,the valuesof the openness dimension
for vowelswould begin with a value greater than that
9M. Halle, "On the Basesof Phonology,"in The Structureof
Language,J. A. Fodor and J. J. Katz, Eds. (Prentice-Hall, Inc., for the semivowels.
Thus, openness is conceivedto code
EnglewoodCliffs,N.J., 1964),pp. 324-333. on a single6-pointscalethe difference between(1) stop

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W. A. WICKELGREN

digits are not appropriate populations in which to


Conso- Voic- Nas- Open- investigateintrusionsasa functionof featuresimilarity.
nant ing ality ness Place
On the other hand, a population of consonants(fol-
p 0 0 0 0 lowed by the vowel /a/) has a constantdegreeof
b 1 0 0 0
phonemicsimilarity betweeneverypair of items.
rn 1 1 0 0 Since feature similarity correlateswith the errors in
t 0 0 0 1 auditory recognition,it is important to ensurethat all
d 1 0 0 1 intrusionsare errorsin short-term recall, not errors in
n 1 1 0 1 auditory perception.This can be accomplishedby re-
•: o o o 3 quiring subjectsto copy the consonants while they are
• 1 0 0 3 beingpresented,coveringwhat they have copied,and
k 0 0 0 4
then recallingthe consonants.Only the consonantsthat
are copiedcorrectlyare scoredfor recall.This procedure
g 1 o o 4 TAB•.•. III. W distinc-
was adoptedin the presentexperiments.
f 0 0 1 0 tive-feature system. ,

v 1 0 1 0 I. 16-CONSONANT EXPERIMENT
0 o o 1 1

•5 1 o 1 1
Sixteenconsonant-vowel (CV) itemswereused,con-
s 0 0 1 2
sistingof the 16 consonants
ptkf0s•bdgv•Sz•.mn
followed
by the vowel/a/ (as in father). A set of 100 lists of
z 1 0 1 2
six CV items each and a set of 100 lists of seven CV
• o o 1 3 items each were constructed. No consonant was ever
• 1 o 1 3 used twice in the samelist. Subjectslistenedto a list
w 1 0 2 0 of CV items presentedat the rate of one item/sec.
r 1 0 2 1 Subjectscopiedthe initial consonantof each CV item
i 1 0 2 2 while the list was beingpresented,coveringwhat they
y 1 0 2 3 had copied.After copyingall items, they attempted to
recall the entire list of consonants in the correct order
h 0 0 2 4
(by fillingin boxes).Time for recallof thelist wasabout
18 sec,so one trial lasted about 25 sec.
Subjectswere 33 MassachusettsInstitute of Tech-
nology undergraduates taking psychology courses.
consonants;(2) fricatives; (3) semivowels,laterals,
and/h/, (4) high (narrow-opening) vowels,(5) medium They constituteda rather broad regionalsamplingof
the United States of America. Seventeensubjectsre-
vowels,and (6) low (wide-opening) vowels.Valuesof
ceived the lists with six items each, and !6 subjects
the placedimensionfor vowelslie within the rangefor
consonants. receivedthe lists with sevenitems each. The speaker
was a male who had grownup in Connecticut.
While the W system gives a unique articulatory
Careful instruction and numerous examples were
descriptionof every consonant,it doesnot attempt to
given prior to the experiment'on the distinction be-
give a completedescriptionof the articulation of each
tween/0/and/•5/and between/z/and/2/. Subjects
consonant.Thus, lip-rounding,tongue-tipretroflection,
lateralization, and pharynx width are not indicated were instructedto write "th" for/0/, "•-•" for/•5/,
explicitly, althoughsomemight considerthesespecial "sh" for/•/, and "zh" for/2/.
featuresto be more characteristic of/w/,/r/,/1/, and II. 23-CONSONANT EXPERIMENT
/h/ than the W classification in termsof the general
positionof themassof the tongue(placeof articulation). When a subject recalls the wrong consonantin a
Also, voicing is indicated as a two-valueddimension, particularpositionin a list, it is muchmorelikely to be
even though the degreeof effort necessaryto produce another consonantfrom the same list (intralist intru-
voiceis greaterfor stop consonants than for fricatives,
sion)than a consonantnot presentedin the list (extra-
nasals,and semivowels. If STM is primarily in a speech-list intrusion). Furthermore, the intralist intrusion
motor system, rather than an auditory system, the tendsto be from a nearbyposition.The previousexperi-
degreeof effort necessaryto producevoicemight be the ment was not systematicallycontrolledwith respectto
moreaccuratedimension.However,the 2-valuedvoicing the frequencyof occurrence of all pairs of consonants
in
dimensionis a reasonablefirst approximationin this the same lists at different degreesof adjacency.This
case.
could result in some random error in the frequency
Sincephonemicsimilarity has already been demon- of differentintrusionsto any givenpresentedconsonant.
strated to correlatewith intrusion frequency,it is im- The secondexperiment was designedto reduce this
portant to controlphonemicsimilarityin the population source of error and to obtain a short-term-recall error
from•.•whichlists are constructed.Thus, letters and matrix for all 23 consonants that can occur in initial

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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY

TABLEIV. STM recallerror matrix for 16 Englishconsonants.

Intrusion (consonantrecalled) Omis- Total


p b m t d n k g f v 0 •5 s z • • sions intrusions
,

Consonantpresented and copied correctly


P 991 29 18 36 23 21 30 11 10 21 15 3 13 12 10 6 113 258

b 36 881 21 16 11 15 9 24, 13 31 13 0 11 17 4 12 93 233

15 11 998 17 5 29 24 14 11 16 12 2 12 7 6 12 72 193

27 11 18 1055 8 23 19 20 21 8 26 9 18 18 9 12 86 247
39 20 18 21 994 45 21 35 17 16 27 11 11 20 11 11 83 323

14 9 18 23 10 856 17 13 13 19 14 5 13 14 5 10 62 197

k 35 12 16 18 8 11 954 10 20 12 13 3 14 14 11 14 83 211

g 20 25 23 18 25 14 21 831 22 7 18 2 11 19 5 5 101 235

f 23 12 25 16 1 24 31 16 744 16 19 7 19 9 12 3 84 233

v 23 23 23 20 20 37 16 10 26 922 19 9 19 22 8 7 105 282

17 4 10 36 7 21 19 12 19 6 674 32 18 13 10 9 83 233

4 6 5 9 7 15 6 5 7 16 65 571 4 8 6 7 38 170
s 16 13 19 21 9 13 16 13 18 12 25 4 911 22 35 13 69 249
z 13 9 11 18 13 7 14 32 10 31 17 11 37 816 9 46 98 278
12 7 18 19 16 13 19 11 11 15 33 13 42 17 993 17 73 263

13 12 12 10 5 10 13 13 14 22 11 10 17 88 26 815 66 276

position in English (p,b,m,t,d,n,•,•,k,g,f,v,O,•5,s,z,•,•,


be rememberedonly slightly better than chance.By
w,r,l,y,h), followedby/a/as in father. making the list longer (nine instead of six or seven
Lists consistedof nine different CV items, with a items), we reduce the probability of correct recall of
groupof threeitems beingpresentedin 1.5 secfollowed beginningand end items, and by introducingcue items
by a 1.5-secpause.Subjectscopiedthe initial consonant we increasethe probability of recallingmiddle items.
of every item as it was being presentedand covered Thus, the probability of correct recall can be more
what the5' had copied.During the presentationof the nearly equated over the different positionsof the list
list, they kept the recall boxescovered.Following the and set at some level that is nearly optimal for our
1.5-secpause after the last group of three items, the purpose.
subjectsuncoveredthe boxesin which they were to Second,we scorethe item in eachpositionas if serial
attempt to recallthe list. Oneconsonant in everygroup positionwerethe only cueusedin recall.Obviously,it is
of three had already been typed in its correctposition not. Subjectsare alsousingthe adjacentitemsthat they
in the recallboxes,so the subjectshad to recallonly six havejust recalled.By insertingcueitemsinto every third
of the nine consonants. The typed-inconsonants (called position,we guaranteethat subjectswill never get very
cue consonants) were in positions1, 4, and 7 on some far off in the cueitems that they are usingin recall.
trials, in positions2, 5, and 8 on other trials, and in Third, by groupingthe items to be recalledin three's,
positions3, 6, and 9 on still other trials. Sincesubjects only two of which are to be recalled,we have a natural
did not know during presentationof the list which con- way of controllingfor the frequencyof differentpairs of
sonantswouldbe typed in, they had to pay attention consonantsin the samelists. We simply use every one
to all nine consonants. of the 23X 22= 506pairs (approximately)equallyoften
This relatively complicated procedure had three as the pair to be recalledin a groupof three consonants.
purposes.First, systematic errors are obviously not To useevery oneof thesepairsoncerequiresa reason-
goingto be obtainedwhenthe memorytraceis sostrong ably large numberof lists. It was decidedto useevery
that the subjectrecallscorrectly,and they are alsonot pair twice (and a few three times). At the sametime,
likely to beobtainedwhenthememorytracehasdecayed the frequency of occurrenceof each consonantwas
completely.Thus, it would be desirableto test recall at equated at 94 (except two that occurred93 times).
an intermediatedegreeof strengthof the memorytrace. Eachconsonant occurred(approximately)equallyoften
The serial-positioneffect works against this, because in cuepositions.No consonantappearedmore than once
items at the beginningand end of a list are generally in any two successive lists. Three setsof 120 lists each
rememberedperfectly, while items in the middle may were used. 9 secwere allowedfor recall of each list, 9

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W. A. WICKELGREN

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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY

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05:24:39
Wo A. WI(gKELGR[•EN
TABLe.
VII. Rankingof 22 otherpresented
consonants

Intrusion (consonantrecalled)
p b m t d n •; 5 k g f
Rank of presentedconsonant
1 k j b g rn n • • 0 k v
9.43 5.71
13.22 6.62 7.25 13.35 7.02 5.75 10.47 8.89 9.89
2 b p r n 0 y • • • j r
9.13 5.19 9.79 6.48 6.98 10.83 6.89 4.99 9.19 6.85 8.73
3 rn d y P n d k 1 j r s
8.74 5.15 8.24 6.32
8.62 5.74 9.82 5.12 4.77 8.90 6.08
4 t k h v •5 p t j 0 g b
8.48 5.12 8.04 6.07 5.64 9.82 5.02 4.65 8.90 5.94 8.52
5 w g w d y r 0 d p d 0
8.43 4.76 7.95 6.01 5.18 8.73 4.65 4.29 7.67 5.79 8.14
6 v 7.46 y 4.71 • 7.85 •55.97 •55.11 v 8.31 p4.29 p 4.06 I 7.59 • 5.37 h 8.04
7 • w b z r 1 •5 g •5 t k
7.13 4.58 7.31 5.87 5.03 8.03 4.26 3.93 6.82 5.13 7.82
8 0 r f s t p s z n z rn
6.98 4.50 7.03 5.83 4.91 7.22 4.20 3.91 6.73 4.89 7.77
9 f v v E k j f b h f •
6.81 4.49 6.97 5.52 4.85 6.85 4.18 3.88 6.62 4.84 7.60
10 h t d h j k 1 k f w b
.6.38 4.24 6.87 5.20 4.79 6.74 3.90 3.77 5.93 4.82 7.31
11 r n p k b g w •5 t p •
6.35 4.24 6.55 5.12 4.79 6.62 3.61 3.41 5.58 4.51 6.67
12 s 0 1 r 1 h t • v rn z
6.29 3.49 6.29 5.03 4.77 6.62 2.90 3.31 5.39 4.37 6.60
13 n z h s g b r s 1• d
5.74 3.18 6.21
4.99 4.73 6.29 2.74 3.17 5.36 4.14 6.44
14 • h t rn z w g n z • P
5.46 3.07 6.03 4.85 4.40 6.27 2.69 2.99 5.13 4.04 6.32
• j f • f m t w 1 t
15 Y5.41 2.99 5.71 4.84 4.28 6.15 2.67 2.90 4.82 3.90 5.80
16 1 • w •5b n h gb h 1
4.99 2.85 5.40 4.55 3.61 5.71 2.49 2.84 4.79 3.55 5.42
1 • • f z r y d n •
17 g 4.97 2.82 4.99 4.13 3.30 4.65 2.38 2.82 4.51 3.49 5.37
18 z f s w m • h v r v n
4.65 2.63 4.90 3.61 3.16 4.28 2.36 2.47 4.23 3.15 5.24
19 d s 0 • v •5 y w y s y
4.08
2.56 4.65 3.33 3.15 4.26 2.35 2.41 4.23 3.03 5.18
20 • •5 z y • • d f rn •5 w
3.72 2.27 4.65 3.06 2.53 3.91 2.15 2.20 3.88 2.56 4.82
rn k j s • v s • Y J
21 J 3.42 1.94 4.31 2.51 2.33 3.31 1.80 2.10 3.72 2.35 4.34
22 ti • •. o • o z rn • 0 g
2.56 1.65 4.14 2.33 1.24 1.16 1.47 0.97 3.09 1.16 3.73

secforpresentationandcopying ofthelist,and2 sec sampling


was a
oftheUnited
female whospent
States
the
ofAmerica.
first11years
Thespeaker
of herlifein
forthe"ready" signal;
soa trialrequiredabout20sec. Colorado andwhowentto highschool onLongIsland,
Thus,eachsetrequired about 40min.Approximately
equalgroupsofsubjectswere runineach set,andthere New York.
Before therecallexperiment
started,
thesubjectswere
were71subjects altogether.
Thesubjects wereMassa-
chusetts
InstituteofTechnology undergraduates
taking given carefulinstructionand examplesregarding the
psychologycourses.Theyconstituted a broadregionalpronunciation and wayof writingof eachconsonant.
394 •rolume
39 number
2 1966

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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY

by percentsubstitution
of eachintrusionconsonant.

Intrusion (consonantrecalled)
v 0 •5 s z • i w r 1
Rank of presentedconsonant
z •5 0 • • s z v w y w rn
6.11 4.54 11.63 9.26 11.16 7.46 8.56 5.62 11.33 12.24 5.78 6.55
n v t z s • O 1 d p h w
5.24 2.70 4.24 8.80 7.69 6.61 5.81 5.21 10.52 11.51 5.67 6.27
f v O f • • p 1 n 1 b
Y 4.71 2.64 3.37 6.98 4.84 3.22 5.75 4.29 10.20 10.97 5.64 6.16
k f f j j • r rn h rn 1
P 4.51 2.43 3.30 4.84 4.34 2.51 5.70 4.23 8.98 10.17 5.10 6.07
r • s r d 0 j • n w •
4.50 2.07 3.03 3.97 4.29 2.33 4.11 4.13 8.73 9.16 4.99 5.79
rn z • v g •5 t rn g g • f
4.37 1.71 2.99 3.82 4.14 2.27 3.12 4.13 8.69 8.90 4.96 5.71
b • z h 1 t •5 •5 •5 •5 j j
4.34 1.65 2.20 3.78 4.12 2.23 2.84 3.98 8.52 8.81 4.34 5.71
f s k • • f v t k rn z v
4.18 1.63 2.16 3.72 4.04 2.20 2.70 3.79 8.36 8.50 4.16 5.39
d r • g • rn w f f f d t
4.08 1.59 2.14 3.11 3.68 2.18 2.41 3.74 7.91 8.35 4.08 5.36
•5 g y b w w b s h r f s
3.98 1.45 2.12 2.97 3.61 2.17 2.28 3.73 7.09 8.20 3.74 5.36
h g p •5 z k g v t n
g 3.93 1.42 2.07 2.93 3.41 1.96 2.16 3.73 • 7.06 7.59 3.74 5.23
w t j • k d rn b • b r
3.86 1.34 2.05 2.76 3.23 1.93 1.94 3.65 7.02 7.08 3.44 5.06
• 1 1 •5 b k y d b k • y
3.72 1.30 1.95 2.56 3.20 1.87 1.88 3.65 6.85 7.01 3.22 4.94
d r j v g s n p • s g
J 3.65 1.29 1.85 2.28 2.92 1.66 1.86 3.24 6.32 6.90 3.03 4.76
0 n w 1 t y g • s • t k
3.49 1.25 1.69 2.17 2.90 1.41 1.86 3.09 6.06 6.65 2.90 4.58
t rn • w rn h r y 0 j v r
3.35 1.21 1.65 2.17 2.67 1.18 1.85 2.38 5.81 6.39 2.70 4.50
1 y d t n b h z [ s k z
3.25 1.18 1.50 2.01 2.49 1.14 1.65 2.20 5.75 6.29 2.43 4.40
[ j h rn r p 1 h j d 0 n
2.99 1.14 1.42 1.94 2.38 1.13 1.52 2.13 5.48 6.22 2.33 4.24
h b p y h v d k t v p d
2.84 1.14 1.35 1.88 2.13 1.12 1.50 1.89 5.36 6.07 2.26 4.08
s p n d y 1 p j • z g p
2.33 0.90 1.25 1.72 2.12 1.08 1.35 1.71 4.75 5.87 2.07 3.84
• • b k p r f • z • •5
1.90 0.48 1.14 1.62 1.81 0.53 0.66 1.36 4.65 4.96 1.99 3.72
k w rn n 0 n n 0 v 0 b
1.62 0.00 0.73 1.50 0.00 0.50 0.25 1.16 4.49 3.49 1.83 2.33

Fifteentrialsof copyingpracticeweregiven,usingthe consonants were rather obviouschoices'"ch" for/•/,


as in the "j" for/j/, "g"for/g/, "sh"for/•/, "zh"for,I•/, etc.
sametype of lists and rate of presentation
recallexperiment, with the experimenter
writingand
pronouncingtheanswers afterthesubjects hadfinished III. RESULTS
copyingthe list for that trial. To reducegraphiccon-
fusions,
subjects wereinstructed to write"0" for/0/ In bothexperiments,onlyconsonants
that hadbeen
usedfor theother copied
and"th" for/•5/. Thegraphicsymbols correctly
in thecorrect
position
werescoredfor
the journalof the Acoustical
Society
of America

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W. A. WICKELGREN

VIII.Accuracy
ofbinary
predictions
made
bythree
feature
systems.
System Dimension STM Total
STM Auditoryperception
16 cons. 23 cons. 16 cons.
%corr. N %corr. N %corr. N %corr. N
all Voicing 70 98 60 168 64 266 100 98
all Nasality 46 28 61 42 56 70 68 28
MN Affrication 64 56 75 56 70 112 59 56
MN Duration 54 28 57 28 55 56 61 28
MN Place 66 152 67 152 67 304 59 152
H Vocalic
& consonantal ...... 55 40 55 40
H Continuant 71 28 63 84 65 241 57 28
H Strident 54 28 50 42 51 70 46 28
H Grave 67 70 61 125 63 195 63 70
H Diffuse 54 56 62 84 59 140 57 56
W Openness 64 56 71 185 69 241 59 56
W Place 79 104 75 247 76 351 65 104
MN (A+D+P) 64 236 68 236 66 472 59 236
H (V&C+C+S+G+D) 62 182 60 375 60 557 58 182
W (O+P) 74 160 73 432 73 592 63 160

recall. Thus, perceptualerrors were eliminated from particular


consonant,
independent
of its strength
in
the recall data. Correctlycopiedconsonants were STM. With 16 or 23 consonants,
the maximumdif-
scoredfor correctordered
recall.That is, a consonantferences
in response
biascouldbequitelarge.Tables
wasscoredas correctlyrecalled,if andonlyif it was VI andVII present
theconditional
probabilities
forthe
recalledin the correctbox on the answersheet.For all
twoexperiments
withtheentries
in eachcolumn
being
cases
in whichthe consonant
presented
in a position rankedfromgreatest
to leastprobability
that thein-
wascorrectlycopiedin that position,TablesIV and V trusionconsonant
wouldbe recalledinsteadof eachof
showthefrequencies ofcorrect recall,omission in recall, the 15 or 22 possiblepresentedconsonants.
For ex-
and eachof the 15 or 22 intrusionsin recallof eachof the ample, let usexamine thecaseswhere/p/wasanin-
16 or 23 consonants.Table IV is for the 16-consonant trusion
inrecallinthe16-consonant
experiment
(column
experiment, and Table V is for the 23-consonant
experiment.
labeled
"p" in TableVI). /p/ wasgivenincorrectly
mostoftenin response
tothepresentedconsonant/k/,
Each intrusionfrequencyin TablesIV and V was nextmostoftenin response
to/b/, nextmostoftenin
divided by thetotalnumber
ofintrusionsforthatpar- response to /d/, etc.The conditional
probability
of
ticularpresentedconsonant
(i.e.,it wasdivided
by the recalling
/p/ when/k/ waspresented andwhenthe
intrusion totalfor thatrow).Thisyieldstheconditional subjectrecalledsomeincorrectconsonant was0.1659.
probabilitythat a subjectrecallsa particularincorrect Eachof the threefeature systems makesbinary
consonant givena particular presented consonant,and (greater
than)predictions aboutvariouspairsof con-
giventhat he makesan intrusionerror (ratherthan sonantsin eachof the columnsin TablesVI and VII.
recallingcorrectlyormaking anomission). ThepurposeFor example,according to MN, /k/ should
rankabove
of thistransformation is to adjustfor differences
in the /g/in column"p" (i.e.,/p/should berecalled
for/k/
frequency with whichdifferentconsonants werepre- moreoftenthan/p/is recalled for/g/), because/p/
sented,copiedcorrectly,recalledcorrectly,
or omitted and/k/ arebothunvoiced, while/g/ is voiced,
and
in recall.Wewanttheentries in onerowto bedirectly /k/ and/g/ areidenticalin everyotherfeature
dimen-
comparablewith thosein anotherrow. sion.Thisprediction
isreferred
to asa prediction
made
Having adjustedfor theseextraneousdifferencesin
bythevoicing
dimension
oftheMN system,
although
"opportunities
forintrusions,"
wecannowcompare eth clearlytheotherdimensionsof MN playa rgleinsofar
obtainedconditional
probabilities
in onerowwith those as /k/ and/g/ musthavethe samevalueson these
in the samecolumnin otherrows.This comparisonotherdimensions. Thereisnowayknown at present
to
withina column(ratherthanwithina row)equates for testwhetheronedimensionisa significant
predictorof
responsebias--thatis, thesubject'sbiasto emitany errorfrequency completelyindependentof the other
396 volume39 number2 1966

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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES AND SHORT-TERM MEMORY

dimensions in a featuresystem.However,this way of sablesoundsequences in differentlanguages


and has a
testinga singledimension is at leastpartlyindependentmore complexand less"natural" articulatoryinterpre-
of one'shypotheses abouttheotherdimensions. For ex- tation. The resultsof the presentstudy suggestthat, at
ample,voicingandnasalityareidenticaldimensions in least for random sequencesof English consonants,
all threefeaturesystems,and the binary predictions STM usesan articulatory (or acoustic)code,not the
madeby voicingandnasalityare alsoidenticalin all moreabstractH code.Distinguishingbetweenan articu-
threefeaturesystems,despitethe fact that the other latory codeand an acousticcodeis very difficultat the
dimensions are rather different for the three feature presenttime and is not attemptedhere.However,it is
systems. Nevertheless,it is the total accuracyof the clearthat onedoesnot needto postulateabstractlevels
predictionsmadeby an entirefeaturesystemthat is that arenot easilyunderstoodin acousticor articulatory
unambiguously interpretable,not the accuracyof each termsin order to predict the errorsin STM for random
featurein the system.TableVIII givesthe numberof sequences of Englishconsonants. It remainsto be seen
predictionsmadeby eachdimension ofeachofthe three whether errorsin long-termmemory or errorsin STM
featuresystems andalsogivesthe percentage of these for syntacticallystructuredsequences of Englishconso-
predictions that were correctfor the recalldata in nantswouldbe best describedby the H system.
Tables VI and VII. The auditory perceptiondata of Why are the predictionsof the W systemnot 100•o
Miller andNicely8werealsoanalyzedin the sameway, accurate?There are many possiblereasons.First, per-
and the results are included in Table VIII. haps the dimensionsof the systemshouldbe redefined
The predictions of the dimensions that distinguish slightly. One possibility that appearspromisingis to
betweenthe threefeaturesystems(i.e., excludingvoic- make voicinga multivalued dimension.This possibility
ing andnasality)are summedat the bottomof Table wasnot investigatedbecauseit wouldhavesubstantially
VIII to yieldan over-allcomparison of theaccuracy of reduced the number of predictionsmade by the W
thethreesystems in predicting theerrorsin bothpercep- systemunder the presentanalysis,and I have not been
tion and STM for Englishconsonants. The accuracyof able to think of a better method of analysisthan the
eachof the three feature systemsis consistentlyand present one. Second,perhaps redundant articulatory
significantly abovechance,indicatingthat intrusion dimensionsshould be included, such as tongue-tip
errors in STM tend to have distinctive features in retroflexion,lateralization, lip-rounding,etc. This was
commonwith the presentedconsonant. not investigatedfor the samereasonas before. Third,
Furthermore,the W systemis consistently moreac- estimatinga largematrix of probabilitiesrequiresa very
curate than the MN system,which is, in turn, con- largenumberof trials beforethe randomerror is solow
sistentlymoreaccuratethanthe H system.The differ- that onecanbelievethe resultsof everyindividualpaired
encesin accuracyarenot statisticallysignificant in the comparison.The presentexperimentwas not intended
data of Miller and Nicely, but are highlysignificantin to achievethat objective.Thus, it is quite conceivable
the total STM data of the presentexperiment.For the that the 73% accuracyof the W systemis as high a
total STM data, W is significantly moreaccuratethan repeatableaccuracyas the variancein the data permits
MN at the 0.02 level (x2= 6.17) and significantlymore for that numberof binary predictions.
accuratethan H at the 0.001 level (x2= 21.3). Is the samefeaturesystemusedin auditory percep-
tion of consonants asin STM for consonants? Compari-
IV. DISCUSSION
son of the presentfindingswith those of Miller and
Nicely is consistentwith this interpretation.But there
Regardless of whichof the threedistinctivefeature is an ambiguityin the interpretationof error matrices
systems onechooses, it isclearthat consonant phonemes for auditory perceptionthat is not presentin the in-
are not the most elementaryunits in which speechis terpretationof error matricesfor memoryexperiments.
coded in STM. Consonants are not remembered in an The ambiguity concernswhere the information that
all-or-none manner. Some of the features of a consonant resultedin an error was lost. When auditory perception
can be recalledwhen otherscannot,producinga syste- is testedunder noisy conditions,as in the Miller and
matic tendencyfor the errorsin short-termrecall to Nicely experiment,much of the information loss is
have distinctive features in common with the correct undoubtedlyoccurringoutsidethe subject.This could
consonant.This suggeststhat recall of a consonant result in errors that follow a simple acoustic-feature
means recall of a set of features that defines that conso- systemfor reasonsthat have nothing to do with the
nant in memory,and eachfeatureis recalledat least natureof the organism.If onestrivesto makethe condi-
semiindependently of the otherfeatures. tionsasnoisefree aspossible,it wouldtake an unreason-
The W feature systemdescribesthe errorsin STM ably long time to obtain accurateestimatesof the ex-
somewhatmore accuratelythan the MN systemand tremely low error probabilities.
muchmoreaccuratelythan the H system.The W and When a subjectcorrectlyidentifiesa consonantand
MN systemsare relativelyeasyto interpretin con- later recallsit incorrectly,onecanbe surethat the infor-
ventionalarticulatory dimensions. The H systemwas mation losshas occurredinside the organismand the
developed fortheparsimonious description of theadmis- error matrix is providinginformationabout the coding
the journal of the AcousticalSocietyof America 3cJ•'

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W. A. WICKELGREN

systemusedby the organism. Of course,theinformation matrices in short-term recall. However, it should be


may be lost at severaldifferentlevelsof the organism's clear that we cannot conclude from this that the W
controlsystem,eachof whichhas a very differentcode. systemis optimalfor predictingothertypesof behavior.
If this is the case,then what we seein the STM error The multilevel branching organization of individual
matrix is a compositeof these codes,and precisein- modalitiesin the human nervoussystemindicatesthat
terpretationbecomesvery complicated.However, even there are many different codesfor analyzingthe same
if there is multilevel information loss in the present information.It is an openquestionwhetherall formsof
STM experiments,it is likely that the amountof infor- speechbehavior,syntacticallystructuredand unstruc-
mation lost at eachlevel is not equal. If one level pre- tured, are performedin one systemthat usesone code.
dominatesin the informationloss,its codewill showup
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
as the bestpredictorof the STM error.matrix.
Thus, we are on reasonablysafegroundin concluding This work was supportedprimarily by a grant from
that the W featuresystem(voicing,nasality,openness the National Institutes of Health, Public Health
of the vocal tract, and placeof articulation)is a good Service,U.S. Department of Health, Education, and
first approximation to the codeusedin STM for English Welfare. Further aid was received from a National
consonants.Certainly, the other two feature systems Aeronauticsand SpaceAdministrationgrant to Hans-
are significantlyless accuratein predicting the error Lukas Teuber.

398 volume39 number2 1966

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