Rate of presentation and the acoustic similarity effect in short-term memory

Ss attempted to recall sequences of six consonants drawn from either an acoustically similar set (B C D G P Q T V), or from a relatively dissimilar set (H K M P R S W Y). Letters were presented visually at a rate of 60 or 120 letters per min. Performance was impaired by acoustic similarity (p<.001) but there was no effect of rate of presentation and no interaction between rate and similarity. This does not support a limited channel capacity interpretation of the acoustic similarity effect.