Are Individual Differences in Auditory Processing Related to Auditory Distraction by Irrelevant Sound? A Replication Study

Abstract

Irrelevant sounds can be very distracting, especially when trying to recall information according to its serial order. The irrelevant sound effect (ISE) has been studied in the literature for over forty years; yet, many questions remain. One goal that has received little attention involves the discernment of a predictive factor, or individual difference characteristic, that would help to determine the size of the ISE. The current experiments were designed to replicate and extend prior work by Macken, Phelps, and Jones (2009), who demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between the size of the ISE and a type of auditory processing called global pattern-matching. The authors also found a relationship between auditory processing involving deliberate recoding of sounds and serial order recall performance in silence. Across two experiments, this dissociation was not replicated. Additionally, the two types of auditory processing were not significantly correlated with each other. The lack of a clear pattern of findings replicating the Macken et al. (2009) study raises several questions regarding the need for future research on the characteristics of these auditory processing tasks, and the stability of the measurement of the ISE itself. Replication is very important within the field of Psychology, and gaining a clearer understanding of the ISE has important theoretical and practical implications. Thus, future work is needed on individual differences in the context of the ISE.