Delivered by Ingenta to: American Academy of Audiology Members IP : 90.228.209.200 On: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 16:23:08 Cognition and Speech-In-Noise Recognition: The Role of Proactive Interference DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.25.10.6 Rachel J. Ellis* Jerker Ro ¨nnberg* Abstract Background: Complex working memory (WM) span tasks have been shown to predict speech-in-noise (SIN) recognition. Studies of complex WM span tasks suggest that, rather than indexing a single cognitive process, performance on such tasks may be governed by separate cognitive subprocesses embedded within WM. Previous research has suggested that one such subprocess indexed by WM tasks is pro- active interference (PI), which refers to difficulties memorizing current information because of interfer- ence from previously stored long-term memory representations for similar information. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate phonological PI and to examine the relationship between PI (semantic and phonological) and SIN perception. Research Design: A within-subjects experimental design was used. Study Sample: An opportunity sample of 24 young listeners with normal hearing was recruited. Data Collection and Analysis: Measures of resistance to, and release from, semantic and phonological PI were calculated alongside the signal-to-noise ratio required to identify 50% of keywords correctly in a SIN recognition task. The data were analyzed using t-tests and correlations. Results: Evidence of release from and resistance to semantic interference was observed. These mea- sures correlated significantly with SIN recognition. Limited evidence of phonological PI was observed. Conclusions: The results show that capacity to resist semantic PI can be used to predict SIN recognition scores in young listeners with normal hearing. On the basis of these findings, future research will focus on investigating whether tests of PI can be used in the treatment and/or rehabilitation of hearing loss. Key Words: Cognition, executive function, proactive interference, speech-in-noise recognition, working memory Abbreviations: PI 5 proactive interference; SIN 5 speech-in-noise; SNR 5 signal-to-noise ratio; WM 5 working memory; WMS 5 working memory span INTRODUCTION C ognition refers to mental processes such as infor- mation processing, memory, and attention. Cog- nitive processes may be affected by interference and inhibition, which are mechanisms that disrupt the storage and/or retrieval of information in memory. Proactive interference (PI; sometimes called proactive inhibition), on which the present study will focus, occurs when items already stored in memory interfere with the acquisition of new memories that are similar to existing representations. PI, or more precisely, the capacity to resist the effects of PI (i.e., to inhibit the influence of PI), has been the topic of many research articles across a broad range of fields. Evidence for an effect of PI has been reported *Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linko ¨ping University, Linko ¨ping, Sweden Rachel J. Ellis, Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linko ¨ping University, 58183, Linko ¨ping, Sweden; E-mail: Rachel.Ellis@liu.se Parts of this work were presented at the Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication conference, Linko ¨ping, Sweden, June 16–19, 2013. This research was funded by the Linnaeus Centre HEAD, The Swedish Research Council (grant number: 2007-8654). J Am Acad Audiol 25:975–982 (2014) 975