When words have related meanings, recalling their order becomes harder

What is it about?

Similarity is known to affect short-term order memory across many stimulus domains, typically impairing recall. Semantic similarity, however, has long been treated as an exception: it reliably benefits item memory while often appearing to leave order memory unaffected. However, upon reexamining the literature and contributing nine large-scale experiments, we show that the received view in the field is incorrect: Semantic similarity impedes short-term order information recall. Furthermore, we explain the apparent inconsistencies in previous findings by showing that the detrimental effect of semantic similarity can be masked by the easiness of the task.

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Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings show that semantic similarity is not a special case for short-term order memory that benefits item memory while sparing order memory. Additionally, by showing that the effect of semantic similarity on order recall depends in part on task difficulty, we reconcile previously mixed results and clarify constraints on models of serial order memory and their treatment of semantic representations in immediate recall.