The effects of disturbing distractions on short-term human memory

The present study examines the effects of short-term memory forgetting under the delay of a distracting task. Eleven subjects were asked to remember three consonants while counting backwards by 3's for varying amounts of time (3-, 9-, 18-sec). An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the data and post hocks were done to measure the differences between the levels. The results showed that the retention of the consonants depended on the retention interval, with good performance over short intervals and poor performance after intervals that just 18-sec. in duration. The implications of these findings are discussed.We encounter a great deal of new information in our daily lives. The particular way in which we think about new information affect the ease with which we learn it and the likelihood we can remember it later on.