THE IRRELEVANT SPEECH EFFECT
The Irrelevant Speech Effect, also referred to as the unattended speech or the irrelevant sound effect, is one of the cognitive effects that should be taken into consideration. This is because it is one of the factors that highly affect memory, and consequent performance and recalling. By definition and understanding, working memory has a major cognitive task, since it directly affects active memory (Baldwin, 2012). When working memory is altered, it directly affects cognition. Consequently, it affects the person’s memory coordination. The irrelevant speech effect is therefore, the unattended sound of irrelevant list of words or alterations that cannot be remembered or recalled. It is the sound that normally disrupts the performance of cognitive tasks of memory.
The irrelevant speech effect is therefore, the visual remedy to the list of words, since a person is able to recall something based on the visual aspect, for example, after seeing the objects that will trigger his cognitive memory to remember something (Ellermeier & Zimmer, 1997). In this case, therefore, the words become irrelevant and unattended to, since the person only need the visual memory to remember something. This makes the words or alterations that had been previously related to the object irrelevant.
One of the most essential things to note concerning the Irrelevant Speech Effect include the fact that it is caused by reduced and decreased flow of blood into the cortical region of the nervous system. This, consequently, leads to subverted and reduced verbal memory. The visual, therefore, stimulates the mental in producing the required and desired outcome. At the same time, the irrelevant Speech Effect include the fact that it is as a result of an inefficient development of the relationship between the stimuli and the reaction (Ellermeier & Hellbrück, 1998).
Role of Irrelevant Speech Effects in day to day setting
According to Alan Baddeley (2000), one of the most essential things to note concerning the Irrelevant Speech Effect is the fact that it has several roles, mainly visual, that it assists in developing in man’s day to day settings. One of the most essential things to note include the fact that it acts as a remedy to bad memory, which on the other hand, affects the cognitive tasks in our day to day living. In this case, therefore, Irrelevant Speech Effects plays a major role in triggering the cognitive memory in remembering things, without necessarily having to under or hear the words that are related to the cognitive task. For instance, according to Peterson, Ingvar and Gisselgard, the visual memory is much more triggered compared to the verbal memory, especially, in cases where the reaction/stimulant had not been effectively related and connected to the response (Russel, 2012).
In such cases, the visual memory is likely to play a more elaborate role in developing the cognitive memory of a person. This is compared to the verbal memory, which might not be effectively developed. In such a case, therefore, Irrelevant Speech Effects have played a major role, especially in reminding the people of given aspects and situations. This is common in cases where they cannot remember the verbal elements of the same (Gisselgard, Peterson & Ingvar, 2004).
This has in most cases been used in various aspects and areas of our day to day lives. These include witnessing in police and legal cases. In such cases, witnesses are more likely to remember something. These include an incident when they are presented with some of the tools or evident that was used during the incident. At the same time, the same strategy has been used. These include questioning and interrogative criminals. The criminals are shown various pictures and visual images. Their reactions and facial impressions are observed.
Some of the aspects that are observed include their facial changes and impressions, changes in their eye movements. The investigators and interviewers are in a better position to acquire various observations from them. This has been applied in the field of forensic science and the law.
Nathan Weisz and Sabine J. Schlittmeier have determined the role that Irrelevant Speech Effects and the impacts that it has on people’s day to day lives. In order to attain this, they have carried out various experiments on the reduction of Theta activity and Visual N1. This was done by looking at the detrimental impacts of Irrelevant Speech Effects on human beings. According to Nathan Weisz and Sabine J. Schlittmeier, noise control during encoding of information is one of the ways through which there can be effective relationship between the stimuli and the response. In this case, for example, the two psychologists realized from their experiment that communicating in a place whereby there was a lot of verbal interruption. Examples include noise, is one of the ways through which limited implementation memory through development of cognitive memory can result.
This has, consequently, been adopted in classes and other educational fronts, such as places whereby teaching with illustration is required. Secondly, in large halls whereby verbal communication might be altered, alternative, visual education is adopted. This is to enhance the verbal communication. Some of the cases whereby this has been applied are by the introduction of the PowerPoint Presentation during teaching, illustration and even in presenting of information. This is due to the fact that the visual memory is stronger than the verbal memory, as supported through the irrelevant Speech Effect (Shapiro, 2011).
Lastly, Zimmer and Ghani have played a major role in identifying and explaining the Irrelevant Speech Effect, and its impacts on people’s speech. In their observation, the two psychologists have identified the fact that it is necessary to reduce to the lowest level possible wordy information. This is in most cases irrelevant, when presenting a speech. According to Zimmer and Ghani, it is necessary to ensure that a person only prepares the necessary information that he seeks to present to the audience. It is also necessary to reduce to the lowest level possible any unnecessary and excessively irrelevant information and words in his speech (Zimmer, Ghani & Ellermeier, 2008). In speech presentation, therefore, students have been advised to stick to the relevant information that they seek to offer in their research. They should also cut on any irrelevant information, which might render the speech as boring, long, irrelevant and poorly-scoring. This is called the irrelevant speech effects on speech-giving (Goldstein, 2010).
References
Baldwin, C. (2012). Auditory Cognition and Human Performance: Research and Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill Press, pp. 116.
Ellermeier, W. & Zimmer, K. (1997). Individual differences in susceptibility to the "irrelevant speech effect." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 102, 2191-2199
Ellermeier, W. & Hellbrück, J. (1998). Is level irrelevant in "irrelevant speech"? Effects of loudness, signal-to-noise ratio and binaural unmasking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 1406-1414.
Gisselgard, J., Peterson, K., & Ingvar, M. (2004). “The irrelevant speech effect and working memory load.” Elsevier 22(3), pp. 1107–1116.
Goldstein, B. (2010). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience with Coglab Manual. New York: Harvard University Press, pp. 112.
Russel, J. (2012). Baddeley's model of working memory. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 100.
Shapiro, L. (2011). Cognition and Acquired Language Disorders: An Information Processing Approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 89.
Weisz, N. & Schlittmeier, S. (2005). “Detrimental Effects of Irrelevant Speech on Serial Recall of Visual Items are Reflected in Reduced Visual N1 and Reduced Theta Activity.” Oxford Journals: Cerebral Cortex, 16(8), pp. 1097-1105
Zimmer, K., Ghani, J. & Ellermeier, W. (2008). “The role of task interference and exposure duration in judging noise annoyance.” Journal of Sound and Vibration, 311, 1039-1051
