THE IMPACT OF RHYTHM UPON VERBAL MEMORY

Suzanne L. Medina, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Graduate EducationCalifornia State University, Dominguez HillsMarch 1, 1994

I Introduction

From the steady beats of the human heart to the cadence of a musical piece, rhythm pervades every aspect of our lives. Rhythm plays a particularly significant role in the functioningof the human organism including the psychomotor, affective and cognitive domains. It is therhythmic nature of our physiological processes which drives our movements, hearts beats, andother regularly occurring physiological functions. Apart from the psychomotor functions,rhythm also impacts the affective aspects of our lives. In a musical context, for example, musicaffects the human emotions such that a slow beat is calming and a fast one agitating to the humanorganism. Finally, rhythm partakes of a significant role in our cognitive functions although littlehas been written on the topic. Most of the existing empirical data on rhythm contribute to our understanding of memory for rhythm; however there is little which helps us comprehend theimpact which has upon verbal memory.Although an increasing amount of research is emerging in the area of psychology of music, that is, the segment of psychology which deals with the psychological processes involvedin the perception of music and its various sub-components, little literature can be found whichconcentrates exclusively on the interaction of rhythm and the memorization of verbalinformation.The existing, though sparse, data on this topic will be reviewed in this paper. Morespecifically, this review of the literature will explore the topic of rhythm as an aid or a mediator for verbal learning and in the process attempt to answer to main questions on the topic:(1) Are short-term and long-term memory similarly or differentially impacted by rhythm ?, and(2) What kinds of verbal items are positively and negatively affected by rhythm, thosewhich are related in meaning to other items being memorized, or those which are not relatedsemantically ?

Defining Rhythm

Prior to actually reviewing the literature on the topic, it is important to define what ismeant by the word, rhythm. A review of the literature clearly points to the absence of anygenerally agreed upon definition of rhythm. Although there are a number of definitions, theyvary depending upon the discipline from which they originated. Nevertheless, these definitionsgenerally fall into one of the following categories (Behrens, 1984):* Definitions involving units of time* Definitions involving time and space* Definitions involving movement in time* Definitions involving the organization of music

* Definitions involving a subjective organization* Definitions involving a match or a motor response to an external source* Definitions involving a determination of difference* Definitions involving movement qualityThe definitions involving units of time best characterize rhythm as it is used in this paper.According to Spohn (1977), rhythm consists of "regular units of time or pulses " (p.62), or asMikol (1954) states it, rhythm is "regular, equally spaced pulsations equivalent to the musiciansterm 'tempo' or 'meter' " (p.240).According to Smoll (1973), rhythme is " the periodic succession or regular recurrence of events in time which constitute the organization of temporal relationships" (p. 232). Yet, probably the most fitting definition/explanation is the one offered by Martin (1972): "Inherent inthe rhythmic concept is that the perception of early events in a sequence generates expectanciesconcerning later events in real time" (p. 503).

Other Terminology Used to Refer to Rhythm

A number of other terms have been used in the literature apart from rhythm (Neisser,1967): temporal grouping (Ryan 1969A, Ryan 1969B), and intonation grouping (Glazner, 1976).Underlying these differing terminologies are also divergent ways of approaching the topic of rhythm. As Glazner (1976) points out, psychologists studying rhythm focus upon juncture (i.e.,spacing between items), while linguists study juncture, pitch, and stress as they occur in naturalspeech. Despite these apparent differences in orientation, this paper will focus uponcommonalities, that is, the temporal aspects of rhythm.

Memorization of Rhythm and Memorization with Rhythm

This particular treatment of rhythm and memory should not be confused with other areaswith which there is some overlap. Particular care was taken to entitle the paper "The Impact of Rhythm Upon Verbal Memory" so as to distinguish it from studies which focus upon auditory perception and memory for various aspects of rhythm such as accent (Sturges and Martin, 1974)and duration (Payne, Devenport, Domangue & Soroka, 1980). In this review of the literature,however, attention is given not to the memorization of rhythm, but memorization with the benefitof rhythm. Rhythm is secondary to verbal memory; it is an aid to encoding information intomemory (Evans and Clynes, 1986) or what Staples (1968) refers to as an Iso-rhythmic mediator.