The Effect of Visual and Acoustic Similarity on Short-Term Memory for Chinese Words

Four lists of Chinese words in a 2 × 2 factorial design of visual and acoustic similarity were used in a short-term memory experiment. In addition to a strong acoustic similarity effect, a highly significant visual similarity effect was also obtained. This was particularly pronounced in the absence of acoustic similarity in the words used. The results not only confirm acoustic encoding to be a basic process in short-term recall of verbal stimuli in a language other than English but also lend support to the growing evidence of visual encoding in short-term memory as the situation demands.