Interference Effects on the Recall of Words Heard and Read: Considerations for ATC Communication

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of interference on memory for words that were either read or heard. Interference tasks required either visual, verbal, or central executive (CE) working memory resources. Experiment 1 examined effects of simultaneous interference, whereas Experiment 2 examined the effects of posttask (subsequent) interference. When interference occurred simultaneously with word presentation, the verbal and CE interference tasks were most disruptive, regardless of whether the words were read or heard. Furthermore, hearing words facilitated recall in comparison to reading words regardless of interference source. When the interference task followed word presentation, CE interference again was the most disruptive. However, the effects of the visual and verbal interference tasks were equivalent. These results are discussed with respect to communication mode in ATC messages to pilots (i.e., textual data-link messages vs. voice transmissions).

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