Learning of telephone numbers with and without letter-exchange prefixes

Abstract

36 COLLEGE STUDENTS, RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO 4 GROUPS, PRACTICED AND WERE TESTED FOR RECALL ON 8- OR 10-UNIT LISTS OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS WITH LETTER EXCHANGES OR WITH DIGITS SUBSTITUTED FOR THE LETTERS. IN TERMS OF MEAN SCORES AND FINAL ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS, GROUPS PRACTICING LISTS OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS WITH LETTERED EXCHANGES PERFORMED BETTER THAN THOSE WHO PRACTICED CORRESPONDING LISTS COMPOSED ENTIRELY OF DIGITS. ITEMS IN THE TRADITIONAL TELEPHONE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM USING PAIRS OF PREFIXED LETTER EXCHANGES WERE MOST READILY LEARNED. EXPLANATIONS IN TERMS OF SYMBOL ISOLATION, INTERFERENCE, AND FAMILIARITY EFFECTS ARE INDICATED, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR TELEPHONE IDENTIFICATION ARE SPECIFIED. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)