Sex differences in memory estimates for pictures and words with multiple recall trials

Undergraduate students (23 men and 23 women) provided memory performance estimates before and after each of three recall trials involving 80 stimuli (40 pictures and 40 words). No sex differences were found across trials for the total recall of items or for the recall of pictures and words separately. A significant increase in recall for pictures (not words) was found for both sexes across trials. The previous results of Ionescu were replicated on the first and second recall trials: men underestimated their performance on the pictures and women underestimated their performance on the word items. These differences in postrecall estimates were not found after the third recall trial: men and women alike underestimated their performance on both the picture and word items. The disappearance of item-specific sex differences in postrecall estimates for the third recall trial does not imply that men and women become more accurate at estimating their actual performance with multiple recall trials.     

Individual differences and memory for faces,pictures, and words

People who had performed exceptionally well or badly on facial recognition tests between 1 and 4 years previously were given three recognition tasks, one involving faces, one involving paintings, and a third using visually presented words. Those selected as good recognizers were better on the recognition of faces and paintings, but they did not differ in verbal memory. This result suggests that people who are particularly good at facial recognition have a generally good visual memory that is separate from verbal memory.     

Sex differences in memory estimates,revisited

207 undergraduate students (95 men and 112 women) representing all four years in college provided estimates of memory performance before and after a recall task involving 80 stimuli (41) pictures and 40 words). The study was intended as a replication of the work of Ionescu in 2000 wherein men underestimated their performance on the picture items and women underestimated their performance on the words. No sex differences were found for correct recall totals, recall for pictures, recall for words, and total prerecall performance estimates. Although both men and women underestimated their pre- and postrecall performance, women underestimated their postrecall performance more than men. More importantly, men underestimated their performance on recall of pictures, whereas women underestimated their performance on the word items, thereby validating prior results with a larger sample. The possible bases for this phenomenon are still not clear.     

Interactive visual imagery and memory search for words and pictures

In a short-term recognition memory experiment with words, subjects: (1) subvocally rehearsed the words, (2) generated a separate visual image for each word, (3) generated an interactive scene with such images, or (4) composed a covert sentence using the words in the memory set. Contrary to Seamon's (1972) results in a similar study, a serial memory search was found in all conditions, instead of the simultaneous scan which was expected when items were combined in interactive images. In a second study with pictures as stimuli, subjects who generated imaginal interactions between separate pictures, viewed interacting pictures, or viewed separate pictures also showed a serial search, i.e., longer RTs were obtained when more stimuli were held m memory. Since interactive imagery facilitated performance in an unexpected paired-associate task with memory set stimuli, one can argue that subjects actually processed or generated such interactions. It was suggested that memory search might not be simultaneous in tasks where the test stimulus constitutes only part of a memory image.     

Developmental differences in frequency judgments of words and pictures

Children in kindergarten, third, and fifth grades were presented a list of either pictures or words (with items presented for varying numbers of times on the study trial). In both picture and word conditions, half of the Ss estimated how many times each item had been presented (absolute judgments) and the other half judged which of two items had occurred more often on the study trial (relative judgments). The primary finding was that while frequency judgment performance improved with age for both pictures and words, there was relatively greater improvement for pictures (i.e., the picture-word difference increased with age). These results lend strong support to the frequency theory of discrimination learning and, in particular, may be useful in accounting for effects associated with age and with age by stimulus mode interactions.     

Hypermnesia for pictures: Incremental memory for pictures but not words in multiple recall trials

Two studies are reported on multiple forced recall following a single visual presentation of a sequence of pictures or words. In both experiments, a hypermnesic memory function (in which performance improved with repeated recall) was obtained for pictures, while a flat, nonincremental function was obtained for words. Interpolation of intervals of thinking between recall trials further enhanced hypermnesia for pictorial items. Retrieval, whether overt (recall trials) or covert (thinking), apparently produces increased net recovery of pictures but not words.     

Spatial information with pictures and words in visual short-term memory

In a delayed matching task, the influence of spatial congruence between study and test on visual short-term memory for geometric figures and words was investigated. Subjects processed series of pictures which showed three words or three geometric figures arranged as rows or as triangular configurations. At test, the elements were presented in the identical or in the alternative configuration as at study. In the non-matching case, one of the studied elements was exchanged. The delay was 5 s. Subjects judged whether the elements were the same as during study, independent of their configuration. In Exp. 1, pictures of figures and words were mixed within one list. For both modalities, the response times were longer if the configuration at test was incongruent to the one at study. This contradicts the results of Santa, who observed effects of spatial congruency for figures, but not for words. In Exp. 2 we therefore presented the same material as in Exp. 1, but now the lists were modality-pure, as in the experiment of Santa – i.e., words and figures were shown in different lists. This time, spatial incongruency impaired recognition of the figures, but not recognition of the words. These results show that in a non-verbal context, isolated visually presented words are spatially encoded as non-verbal stimuli (figures) are. However, the word stimuli are encoded differently if the task is a pure verbal one. In the latter case, spatial information is discarded. Received: 9 September 1997 / Accepted: 30 March 1998     

Recognition memory for words and pictures at short and long retention intervals

In two experiments, subjects studied a long series of words and pictures for recognition. Retention intervals varied from several minutes to a few months. The complicated testing procedures in Experiment I required the use of a traditional correction for guessing to obtain estimates of subjects' memory performance. A comparable, but simpler, design in Experiment II permitted the calculation of sensitivity and bias measures. In both studies, pictorial memory was superior to verbal memory at all retention intervals tested, and this advantage was essentially constant over time. In addition, the experiments identified an increasing tendency to call verbal test items "old" over time. Bias scores in Experiment H revealed that subjects adopted a more lenient criterion in responding to words than to pictures, and increased leniency was noted for both item types over time. Explanations of the results are offered in terms of differences in initial encoding and of a loss of discrimination between experimental and extraexperimental materials.     

Repetition and laterality effects on recognition memory for words and pictures*

Recognition memory for a list of words was tested by presenting a series of items with Ss instructed to make positive responses to targets (list items) and negative responses to distractors (nonlist items). The test items were either words or pictures, and they were presented tachistoscopically either to the left or right visual field. The results showed mean response latencies to be generally faster for stimuli presented to the right visual field. Response times were faster for target and distractor stimuli on their second test presentations than on initial tests, but this effect was much larger for targets. Repetitions were shown to decrease the amount of time necessary to execute the stimulus encoding and initial retrieval stages of recognition. This was also true, although to a lesser extent, if different stimulus forms (words or pictures) were used on the two tests. Subsequent recognition stages, including memory search and decision processes. were apparently independent of test stimulus form.     

Forgotten but not gone: savings for pictures and words in long-term memory

Five experiments examined the relearning of words, simple line-drawing pictures, and complex photographic pictures after retention intervals of 1 to 10 weeks. For those items that were neither recalled nor recognized, the identical item was relearned better than an unrelated control item, as measured by a recall test following relearning. This relearning advantage in recall held for all three classes of material and extended to the cross-modality case (i.e., picture-word and word-picture) and the same-referent case (i.e., two pictures of the same object). However, recognition tests of relearning failed to detect this same relearning advantage for apparently forgotten items. Taken together, these findings conflict with the existing account of savings. Most fundamental, the classic argument that relearning serves a trace-strengthening function is undetermined by the observed recall-recognition contrast. An alternative explanation of savings is suggested wherein relearning assists retrieval of information, thereby affecting recall in particular.     

Sex differences in working memory

In two separate studies, sex differences in modal-specific elements of working memory were investigated by utilizing words and pictures as stimuli. Groups of men and women performed a free-recall task of words or pictures in which 20 items were presented concurrently and the number of correct items recalled was measured. Following stimulus presentation, half of the participants were presented a verbal-based distraction task. On the verbal working-memory task, performance of men and women was not significantly different in the no-distraction condition. However, in the distraction condition, women's recall was significantly lower than their performance in the no-distraction condition and men's performance in the distraction condition. These findings are consistent with previous research and point to sex differences in cognitive ability putatively resulting from functional neuroanatomical dissimilarities. On the visual working-memory task, women showed significantly greater recall than men. These findings are inconsistent with previous research and underscore the need for further research.     

Retrieval of pictures and words from long-term memory: Effects upon short-term memory

On each of a series of Brown-Peterson short-term memory (STM) tests, the presentation of a verbal to-be-remembered (TBR) item (a five-letter quintogram in Experiment 1 and an eight-letter octogram in Experiment 2) was followed immediately by a 10-sec retention interval. During the retention interval, subjects recalled and reproduced previously learned paired associate response triads that consisted of three concrete pictures, concrete words, abstract pictures, or abstract words. Following selective retrieval of one of the four types of response triads from long-term memory (LTM), subjects attempted to recall the TBR items from STM. In both experiments, the intervening retrieval of abstract words resulted in significantly poorer retention of the TBR items than did the intervening retrieval of concrete words; the retrieval of concrete words resulted, in turn, in significantly poorer retention of the TBR items than did the retrieval of concrete or abstract pictures. Retrieval of the latter two types of materials appeared not to interfere with the short-term retention of the TBR verbal material (i.e., the quintograms and octograms). The results reflect the occurrence of selective interference effects, and, except for one discrepant finding, appear to be consistent with Paivio’s 11971) dual-coding hypothesis and Shiffrin and Schneider’s (1977) general theory of memory.     

Sex differences in estimates of multiple intelligences

This paper reports on two studies, each concerned with sex differences in the estimates of Gardner's ‘seven basic types of intelligence’. In the first study, 180 British adults were asked to estimate their own intelligence on the seven intelligence factors. Only one (mathematical/logical) showed a significant sex difference, with males believing they had higher scores than females. Factor analysis of these seven scales yielded three interpretable higher‐order factors. There was a similar sex difference on only one factor (mathematical/spatial intelligence), which showed males rating themselves higher than females. In the second study, 80 student participants completed the same seven estimates of intelligence, plus a standard sex‐role inventory, in order to separate sex and sex role in the self‐estimation of intelligence. A series of sex×sex‐role ANOVAs showed some effects, particularly for mathematical, musical, and spatial intelligence, but nearly always for sex and not sex role. Results suggest that previous studies which found consistent sex differences in self‐estimates of overall intelligence (‘g’) may have over‐exaggerated the issue as the difference is clearly confined to a limited number of factors of intelligence. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrophysiological differences in the processing of affective information in words and pictures

It is generally assumed that affective picture viewing is related to higher levels of physiological arousal than is the reading of emotional words. However, this assertion is based mainly on studies in which the processing of either words or pictures has been investigated under heterogenic conditions. Positive, negative, relaxing, neutral, and background (stimulus fragments) words and pictures were presented to subjects in two experiments under equivalent experimental conditions. In Experiment 1, neutral words elicited an enhanced late positive component (LPC) that was associated with an increased difficulty in discriminating neutral from background stimuli. In Experiment 2, high-arousing pictures elicited an enhanced early negativity and LPC that were related to a facilitated processing for these stimuli. Thus, it seems that under some circumstances, the processing of affective information captures attention only with more biologically relevant stimuli. Also, these data might be better interpreted on the basis of those models that postulate a different access to affective information for words and pictures.     

The effect of orienting activity on memory for pictures and words in children and adults

Second and fifth grade children and adults were shown either pictures or words to study, and were tested with both pictures and words in a forced-choice recognition task. Prior to presentation of each study item, subjects were asked questions designed to orient them to the acoustic, schematic, or conceptual characteristics of the item, or were asked no questions at all (neutral condition). In addition, at recognition, each study item (target) was paired with a distractor related to the target either acoustically, schematically, conceptually, or not at all (neutral). The results show that deficits in the kinds of encoding operations performed are not responsible for developmental differences in memory performance, but suggest that young children differ from adults in terms of focused attention and direct access to semantic representations.     

Storage and retrieval properties of dual codes for pictures and words in recognition memory.

Storage and retrieval properties of pictures and words were studied within a recognition memory paradigm. Storage was manipulated by instructing subjects either to image or to verbalize to both picture and word stimuli during the study sequence. Retrieval was manipulated by representing a proportion of the old picture and word items in their opposite form during the recognition test (i.e., some old pictures were tested with their corresponding words and vice versa). Recognition performance for pictures was identical under the two instructional conditions, whereas recognition performance for words was markedly superior under the imagery instruction condition. It was suggested that subjects may engage in dual coding of simple pictures naturally, regardless of instructions, whereas dual coding of words may occur only under imagery instructions. The form of the test item had no effect on recognition performance for either type of stimulus and under either instructional condition. However, change of form of the test item markedly reduced item-by-item correlations between the two instructional conditions. It is tentatively proposed that retrieval is required in recognition, but that the effect of a form change is simply to make the retrieval process less consistent, not less efficient.     

The effect of context on discrimination and bias in recognition memory for pictures and words

When the context accompanying a to-be-remembered word is changed between study and test, recognition memory is impaired. The deleterious effect of context change on recognition memory can be viewed as support for encoding specificity theory, semantic theory, or the existence of two bases for recognition. A fourth possible interpretation, examined here, is that the effect of context change on recognition memory is due to an accompanying change in response bias, rather than a "true" decrease in sensitivity to old and new items. In two experiments, the effect of context change on discrimination and bias in recognition of simple line drawings and their names was examined. Bias was measured using two measures shown by Snodgrass and Corwin (1988) to be theoretically independent of their associated discrimination measures. Context change produced marked conservatism in response bias in both experiments but demonstrated an effect on discrimination in the second experiment only. The shift from a neutral to a conservative response strategy as a result of context change may also be seen in other experiments, in which the same experimental paradigm was used with a variety of stimulus materials. We suggest that the major effect of context manipulation is to produce a change in bias. A stimulus in a familiar environment appears to be more familiar than a stimulus in a strange environment, regardless of its old/new status. In addition, there appears to be a true decrease in discrimination with context change, but this is more difficult to detect. The finding that pictures, which are less polysemous than words, are as affected by context change as words are supports encoding specificity theory over semantic theory.     

Sex differences in recall of real or nonsense words

Women perform better than men on tests of verbal memory, but the nature of this advantage has not been precisely established. To examine whether phonemic memory is a factor in the female advantage, we presented, along with other verbal memory tasks, one containing nonsense words. Overall, there was the expected female advantage. However, an examination of the individual tests showed female superiority in recall of the real words but not the nonsense words.