Memory Search of Words and Nonwords
William P. Banks · Psychological Reports · 1974
Classification of single-letter probes as members or nonmembers of a list of letters held in memory is faster if the memory list spells a word than if it does not. In terms of Sternberg's theory of memory search, the results seem to show that the speed of the letter-by-letter memory-comparison stage is increased when the letters in the memory set spell a word.