Irrelevant changing-state sounds impair children's serial recall of visually presented items, with developmental evidence pointing to two mechanisms¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 2 studies · 2 review r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2013 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Irrelevant sounds with a changing-state characteristic (distinct varying auditory objects) impair serial recall, whereas steady-state sounds such as continuous broadband noise have minor or no effect. → Klatte M 2013 q2 i? The magnitude of the irrelevant sound effect increases with decreasing age in some studies (39% performance drop in second-graders vs 11% in adults), but other studies found no age difference in the effect of background speech. → Klatte M 2013 (2)

Evidence¶

Klatte M 2013¶

Klatte M, Bergström K and Lachmann T (2013) Does noise affect learning? A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children. Front. Psychol. 4:578. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00578

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review's synthesis of the irrelevant sound effect literature: changing-state sounds evoke the ISE while "steady state sounds... have a minor or no effect"; the ISE occurs even at low intensity and with meaningless speech.

"irrelevant sounds consisting of different syllables or tones evoke an ISE, whereas steady state sounds, e.g., continuous broadband noise or repetitions of single syllables or tones, have a minor or no effect."

Klatte M 2013 (2)¶

Klatte M, Bergström K and Lachmann T (2013) Does noise affect learning? A short review on noise effects on cognitive performance in children. Front. Psychol. 4:578. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00578

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports Elliott's developmental study found a dramatic ISE increase with decreasing age, interpreted as evidence for attentional control's role; Klatte et al. (2010b) found background-speech effects that "did not differ in magnitude between first-grade children and adults".

"Performance drop relative to quiet was 39% in the second-graders, as opposed to 11% in the adults."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

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