The Role of Sex of Speaker on Recall and Recognition

Publication Date

Spring 4-16-2025

College

College of Sciences & Mathematics

Department

Psychological Science, Department of

SPARK Category

Research

Faculty Advisor

Michael Oliver

Presentation Type

Talk/Oral

Summary

Certain aspects of verbal communication are known to influence listeners in different ways. For example, existing research indicates that the perceived sex of a speaker solely based on their voice can influence a listener’s ability to recall and recognize information from the speaker’s content (Aggarwal et al., 2021). Literature is conflicting, with some researchers finding overall memory bias toward a particular sex of speaker and others finding own-sex bias (Kreiner et al., 2004). Literature also states that overall attractiveness of a voice determined by pitch and assertiveness resulted in higher levels of recall and recognition abilities, regardless of the speaker’s sex (Aggarwal et al., 2021). In this study, participants listened to a prerecorded story, narrated by a male or female speaker, and were then tested on their ability to recall specific details. Participants displayed this knowledge first through an open-ended recall prompt, and then via multiple-choice recognition questions. This study looked to find if there was a correlation between recall ability and recognition of specific information such as dates, locations, names, and the sex of the speaker. By better understanding how certain aspects of verbal expression affect memory, we can work to make communication more effective.

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