Determined if forward information is conveyed to listeners of backward speech. 39 university students listened to digitized statements that were played backward, and 33 others heard them in the usual forward manner. Ss were then tested for recognition memory. All the statements were played backward on the test. Ss who had heard backward statements showed reliable old–new discrimination, but Ss who had heard forward statements did not. Then, Ss rated the probable truth of statements that were typed in normal orientation. The Ss who had heard the statements played forward discriminated the old from the new statements by rating more of the old ones true. The Ss who heard the statements backward did not. Results indicate that the forward meaning of backward statements does not “leak” through, even when the backward statements themselves are memorable.