Intentional encoding does not alter the trade-off between speech-in-noise perception and memory.

Abstract

Degraded speech increases listening effort at the expense of memory encoding, but the flexibility of this resource trade-off under varying motivational conditions remains poorly understood. The present study investigated how encoding intention influences cognitive resource allocation during a speech-in-noise task. Participants' sentence comprehension was tested using a sentence verification task (SVT) under varying signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Memory of the sentences was then assessed by a recognition task about which they were either naïve or forewarned. Accuracy in the SVT and memory task represent comprehension and recognition, respectively. Reaction time in the SVT serves as a proxy for listening effort. Increasing noise impaired both comprehension and recognition and required greater listening effort. Forewarning imposed an additional listening effort cost to comprehension, consistent with encoding intention functioning as an upfront cognitive investment. However, noise and forewarning each imposed independent, additive penalties in both comprehension and listening effort rather than a compounding interaction, and gains in recognition were minimal. These findings suggest that intentional encoding does not fundamentally alter the comprehension-memory trade-off during effortful listening. Implications for finite resource models and their assumptions about how motivational and perceptual demands compete for cognitive resources are discussed.