A LINGUISTICALLY CONSTRAINED MODEL OF SHORT-TERM-MEMORY FOR NONWORDS

Errors in the repetition and serial recall of nonwords indicate that s tructural properties of the syllable are represented in short-term mem ory. We develop a connectionist model of short-term memory for such un familiar phonological sequences, based on insights from existing model s of speech production and short-term memory. The results of simulatio ns of experiments involving nonword recall and repetition are presente d, and the mechanisms which produce the common error types are discuss ed. We also show how the proposed model can be extended to develop and make use of long-term representations of phonological forms, and how a global reduction in short-term memory capacity (such as is commonly observed in developmental dyslexia, and acquired disorders of output p honology) could differentially affect performance on tasks involving f amiliar and. unfamiliar materials. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.