Abstract
Ratings of “similarity-in-sound” for pairs of words sharing letters in various ordinal positions were obtained using a 7-category graphic scale on which degrees of similarity were specified by verbal labels. Judged acoustic (articulatory) similarity increased as number of shared letters increased from zero to one, two, and three letters. Pairs overlapping in first letters were rated significantly more similar than pairs sharing middle or last letters. For pairs sharing letters within two ordinal positions, judged similarity increased in the order of first-and-middle, first-and-last, middle-and-last. Implications for the hypothesis that verbal Stimuli are coded by pronunciation were discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
NELSON, D. L. Information theory and stimulus encoding in free and serial recall: Ordinal position of formal similarity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 80, 537–541.
NELSON, D. L., & GARLAND, R. M. Amount and locus of stimulus-response overlap in paired-associate acquisition. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 82, 297–300.
NELSON, D. L., & ROWE, F. A. Information theory and stimulus encoding in paired-associate acquisition: Ordinal position of formal similarity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 79, 342–346.
RICHARDSON, J., & CHISHOLM, D. C. Transfer of cue selection based on letter position. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969, 80, 299–303.
RUNQUIST, W. N. Formal intralist similarity in paired-associate learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1968a, 78, 634–641.
RUNQUIST, W. N. Rated similarity of high m CVC trigrams and words and low m CCC trigrams. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 1968b, 7, 967–968.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant (MH 16360-01) to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nelson, D.L., Nelson, L.D. Rated acoustic (articulatory) similarity for word pairs varying in number and ordinal position of common letters. Psychon Sci 19, 81–82 (1970). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337431
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337431