Investigating the impact of dialect on short-term memory: a pilot study

Abstract

This paper summarizes and discusses the findings of a university based study following the impact of dialect on one’s ability to recall information in both familiar and unfamiliar dialects. According to current research, experience plays a part in one’s ability to encode and retrieve information in unfamiliar dialects efficiently. Adults who self-identified as native speakers of English were recruited to participate in the study. Individuals listened to two short passages in either unfamiliar or familiar dialect and were then prompted to answer questions immediately after. Short-Term Memory recall tasks were implemented in the form of fill in the blank and summary questions. In addition to this, participants were asked to rate their confidence when answering both sets of questions. Results of the study, through qualitative data provide supportive evidence regarding the correlation between task complexity and processing demands.