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The changing state effect is the finding that a stream of irrelevant sounds that change more (e.g., different digits in random order) disrupts memory more than a stream of irrelevant sounds that change less (e.g., a single digit repeated over and over). According to the Object-Oriented Episodic Record (O-OER) model, the changing state effect will be observed only in memory tasks that have an order component or which induce serial rehearsal or serial processing. In contrast, other accounts-including the Feature Model, the Primacy Model, and various attentional theories-predict that the changing state effect should be observable when there is no order component. Experiment 1 first demonstrated that the irrelevant stimuli created for the current experiments produced a changing state effect in immediate serial recall in both on-campus and online samples. Then, three experiments assessed whether a changing state effect is observable in a surprise 2AFC recognition test. Experiment 2 replicated Stokes and Arnell (2012, Memory & Cognition, 40, 918-931), who found that although irrelevant sounds reduce performance on a surprise recognition test of words presented previously in a lexical decision task, they do not produce a changing state effect. Experiments 3 and 4 used two different encoding tasks (pleasantness and frequency judgment) and also found no changing state effect. The results support the prediction of the O-OER model and provide additional evidence against the other accounts.

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Previous studies suggest that task-irrelevant changing-state sound interferes specifically with the processing of serial order information in the focal task (e.g., serial recall from short-term memory), whereas a deviant sound in the auditory background is supposed to divert central attention, thus producing distraction in various types of cognitive tasks. Much of the evidence for this distinction rests on the observed dissociations in auditory distraction between serial and non-serial short-term memory tasks. In this study, both the changing-state effect and the deviation effect were contrasted between serial digit recall and mental arithmetic tasks. In three experiments (two conducted online), changing-state sound was found to disrupt serial recall, but it did not lead to a general decrement in performance in different mental arithmetic tasks. In contrast, a deviant voice in the stream of irrelevant speech sounds did not cause reliable distraction in serial recall and simple addition/subtraction tasks, but it did disrupt a more demanding mental arithmetic task. Specifically, the evaluation of math equations (multiplication and addition/subtraction), which was combined with a pair-associate memory task to increase the task demand, was found to be susceptible to auditory distraction in participants who did not serially rehearse the pair-associates. Together, the results support the assumption that the interference produced by changing-state sound is highly specific to tasks that require serial-order processing, whereas auditory deviants may cause attentional capture primarily in highly demanding cognitive tasks (e.g., mental arithmetic) that cannot be solved through serial rehearsal.

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Immediate serial recall of visually presented items is reliably impaired by task-irrelevant speech that the participants are instructed to ignore ("irrelevant speech effect," ISE). The ISE is stronger with changing speech tokens (words or syllables) when compared to repetitions of single tokens ("changing-state effect," CSE). These phenomena have been attributed to sound-induced diversions of attention away from the focal task (attention capture account), or to specific interference of obligatory, involuntary sound processing with either the integrity of phonological traces in a phonological short-term store (phonological loop account), or the efficiency of a domain-general rehearsal process employed for serial order retention (changing-state account). Aiming to further explore the role of attention, phonological coding, and serial order retention in the ISE, we analyzed the effects of steady-state and changing-state speech on serial order reconstruction of visually presented verbal and spatial items in children (n = 81) and adults (n = 80). In the verbal task, both age groups performed worse with changing-state speech (sequences of different syllables) when compared with steady-state speech (one syllable repeated) and silence. Children were more impaired than adults by both speech sounds. In the spatial task, no disruptive effect of irrelevant speech was found in either group. These results indicate that irrelevant speech evokes similarity-based interference, and thus pose difficulties for the attention-capture and the changing-state account of the ISE.

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This study aims to investigate the effect of chatbots that work with artificial intelligence on the success of students and their opinions about chatbots in the 'Matter and the changing state of matter' unit in the 5th grade science course. In addition to text-based functions, the designed chatbot includes a video accessed on the web to support students visually and aurally. The chatbot was designed using the Dialogflow program and an instant messaging program made available to students through a group created on Telegram. The study, which used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design, included 41 participants (n = 20 for the experimental, n = 21 for the control group) studying in the 5th grade of a state secondary school in the 2020-2021 academic year. Results suggest that although there was no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of academic achievement, it was determined that the chatbot application positively affected the online learning experience of the experimental group students. Students' opinions about the chatbot included that it was useful and fun, they would like to use it for other courses, it provided useful assistance in learning outside the classroom, and it allowed them to repeat the course again. The results showed that, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, such applications could contribute positively to students' learning.

RESUMEN

On tests of verbal short-term memory, performance declines as a function of auditory distraction. The negative impact of to-be-ignored sound on serial recall is known as the irrelevant sound effect. It can occur with speech, sine tones, and music. Moreover, sound that changes acoustically from one token to the next (i.e., changing-state sound) is more disruptive to serial recall than repetitive, steady-state sound. We tested manipulations that resulted in changes in (higher levels of) perceptual organization for more complex tonal stimuli. Within a trial, the first two bars of a well-known melody were repeated (a) in the exact same manner, (b) with variations only in tempo, (c) with variations only in mode (e.g., Dorian or Phrygian), or (d) with variations in both tempo and mode. Participants serially recalled digits in each of the irrelevant sound conditions as well as in a silent control condition. In Experiment 1a, we tested non-music students and, to investigate whether musical expertise affected the findings, additionally tested students majoring in music in Experiment 1b. Across both samples, recall in the irrelevant sound conditions was significantly poorer than in the silent control condition, but only the tempo variation caused an additional harmful effect. The mode variation did not affect recall performance, in either music or non-music students. These findings indicate that, at least with music, changes are a matter of degree and not every additional variation impairs recall performance.

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