THE EFFECTS OF VOCAL VARIATION ON LISTENER RECALL

The effects of variations in speaker rate and pitch on listener recall were studied. One hundred and twenty participants listened to an audi otape of one of two individuals speaking in one of four different styl es-low variation in both rate and pitch, variation in rate but not in pitch, variation in pitch but not in rate, and variation in both rate and pitch. After hearing the audiotape, listeners were tested on the i nformation in the presentation, they also completed questionnaires rat ing the speaker's benevolence and competence. Results indicated that t he combined effect of pitch and rate variety significantly increased l istener recall over no variety or pitch variety or rate variety alone. Additionally, pitch variety and combined pitch and rate variety signi ficantly increased attributions of speaker competence over no variety or rate variety alone, but significantly decreased attributions of spe aker benevolence.