The phonological loop and the irrelevant speech effect: Some comments on Neath (2000)

Neath (2000) presents a useful overview of the evidence to be explained by any model of the effects of irrelevant speech on immediate serial memory an d proposes a model accompanied by computational simulation. While his revie w is in general accurate, it is limited in its explanation of the crucial c haracteristics of the disrupting sounds. It also neglects strategic issues, particularly the tendency for subjects to switch strategy as list length i ncreases. As a result, his model fails to account for the absence of an int eraction between irrelevant speech and acoustic similarity for lists of spa n length. Points of issue between Neath's feature hypothesis and the phonol ogical loop interpretation are outlined, and the contribution of his comput ational simulation is discussed.