On the time required to construct a simple linear order

TLDR: The results indicate that the time required to determine that a pair contains no elements in common with previously presented pairs is greater for two-syllable words than for digits, suggesting that an exhaustive search through short-term storage is occurring.

Abstract: Pairs of digits or two-syllable words were presented visually for subjects to study as long as necessary in order to construct a single string reflecting the ordering inherent in the pairs. For example, given 75, 27, 58, the subject was to produce 2758. The time spent studying individual pairs was shown to reflect a set of five constructive processes identified in a theory proposed by Foos, Smith, Sabol, and Mynatt (1976) to account for errors in constructing the correct order. In addition, the results indicate that the time required to determine that a pair contains no elements in common with previously presented pairs is greater for two-syllable words than for digits, suggesting that an exhaustive search through short-term storage is occurring.