Eye movements and visual imagery in free recall

The relationship between eye movements and visual imagery has almost exclusively been studied by treating eye movements as the dependent variable while an imagery task is being performed. In the present experiment three eye-movement treatment conditions were manipulated, within Ss, as the independent variable in order to study their effects on the free recall of nouns which Ss had to store by means of imagery. The imagery-evoking capacity (I) of nouns was varied over three levels within lists of Dutch nouns (Low, Medium and High I). Ss were instructed to generate a visual image to each separate noun under the following treatment conditions: (a) while they looked over and scanned their image as if they were looking at the real object: (b) while they received concurrent visual stimulation from a checkerboard pattern; (c) while they fixated on a target. Reliable, but minor effects of treatment conditions on the recall scores were found. The results were discussed in terms of possible theories about the nature of the relationship between eye movements and visual imagery.     

Visual imagery and dream recall

Research in dream recall frequency has failed to isolate psychological variables which clearly and reliably differentiate frequent dream recallers from infrequent recallers. The present study tested the hypothesis that frequent recallers have a greater capacity for visual imagery than infrequent recallers. Subjects selected on the basis of reported dream recall frequency were administered a Paired-Associate Learning task designed to measure visual imagery, a rating scale of imagery clarity and vividness, and a subjective measure of imagery controllability. The results provide support for the hypothesis and, together with other evidence, suggest that a generalized capacity for visualization may contribute to the quality of the dreaming experience and, consequently, to its recallability.     

Factors of imagery and event recall

The relationships among various measures of mental imagery and childhood memory were examined using factor analysis and other correlational procedures. Forty-six subjects completed nine mental imagery measures (Marks’s VVIQ, Gordon’s Vividness Scale Forms 1 and 2, Space Relations Form of the Differential Aptitude Test, Barratt’s Visualization Forms A and B, Betts’s QMI, Cut the Cube Task, and Richardson’s VVQ), a number of memory measures, and two measures of the observer/field “point-of-view” distinction. Analysis revealed three distinct imagery factors, “vividness and control,” “spatial manipulation,” and “spontaneous elaboration,” as well as a fourth “childhood memory” factor. Childhood memory was not significantly correlated with any imagery variables, but observer perspectives were associated more often with childhood memories than with recent memories. In addition, the tendency to recall events from the field perspective was correlated with the spatial manipulation factor.     

Auditory imagery and the poor-pitch singer

The vocal imitation of pitch by singing requires one to plan laryngeal movements on the basis of anticipated target pitch events. This process may rely on auditory imagery, which has been shown to activate motor planning areas. As such, we hypothesized that poor-pitch singing, although not typically associated with deficient pitch perception, may be associated with deficient auditory imagery. Participants vocally imitated simple pitch sequences by singing, discriminated pitch pairs on the basis of pitch height, and completed an auditory imagery self-report questionnaire (the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale). The percentage of trials participants sung in tune correlated significantly with self-reports of vividness for auditory imagery, although not with the ability to control auditory imagery. Pitch discrimination was not predicted by auditory imagery scores. The results thus support a link between auditory imagery and vocal imitation.     

Hypermnesia in free recall and cued recall

In three experiments, categorized lists and both free recall and cued recall tests were used to examine hypermnesia. In Experiment 1, materials were drawn from obvious and nonobvious categories in an attempt to vary the amount of relational processing at encoding. The study materials in Experiment 2 consisted of a long word list that comprised several exemplars from each of a number of common categories. In Experiment 3, a single exemplar was drawn from each of 45 categories. In each experiment, similar magnitudes of hypermnesia were obtained on free and cued recall tests. Examination of the specific items recalled across tests indicated that similar processes underlie the hypermnesic effect for both test conditions. Implications of the results for extant accounts of the hypermnesic effect are discussed. It is concluded that the dynamics of retrieval processes change in a systematic fashion across repeated tests and the retention interval following study and that an adequate account of the nature of these changes in retrieval dynamics is essential to our understanding of hypermnesia and related phenomena.     

Familiarity and free recall

Using stimulus material drawn from a single category, it is shown that formal recognition tests yield superior performance to recall when the category cannot be completely enumerated by the subjects, but not otherwise. Furthermore, within these categories recognition is superior only if unfamiliar items are selected as stimuli. These findings fit the theory that when recalling subjects attempt to scan the relevant category and “recognize” those items employed as stimuli.     

The relation between visual imagery mediators and recall

Three hypotheses are discussed as explanations for the result that pairs of concrete nouns are more easily remembered than are pairs of abstract nouns: the imagery hypothesis, the familiarity hypothesis, and the concreteness hypothesis. Two experiments are reported in which the degree of visual imagery associated with the components of paired associate items was not indicative of the degree of visual imagery experienced during their learning or with the accuracy with which they were recalled. It was found that pairs of related abstract nouns were rated higher in imagery and familiarity than were pairs of unrelated concrete nouns, but recall of the higher imagery pairs was poorer. The concreteness hypothesis is discussed as the best explanation for the results. The concreteness hypothesis proposes that people learn to associate the labels of concrete objects by using their real-world knowledge of the potential relations between categories of objects. Dual coding theory and schema theory are also discussed as explanations for mediation learning, and the issue of visual imagery as an epiphenomenon is addressed.     

The effects of concurrent secondary tasks on the use of imagery in a free recall task

An attempt was made to evaluate Paivio's view that the superior recall of High-I words compared to that of Low-I words can be ascribed to the fact that imagery is available as an additional encoding dimension in the High-I materials. An experiment is reported which investigated the effects of two types of secondary task on the free recall of word lists consisting of equal numbers of items of high and low imagery. One secondary task was intended to prevent the use of imagery during acquisition. Recall of the High-I items was selectively impaired in the presence of the image inhibiting secondary task. As performance on the secondary task improved in some subjects over 3 trials, it was accompanied by improved recall of the High-I words.     

Role of contextual imagery in associative recall

The advantage of interactive over separation imagery in associative recall was markedly diminished when a unique imaginary context was provided for each imaged pair of words. Separation imagery was much more sensitive to contextual redundancy than was interactive imagery. Context was viewed as facilitating organization at encoding as well as affecting cue loading at retrieval. A three-element associative model is described.     

Auditory and visual similarity effects in recognition and recall

The role of auditory and visual factors in short-term recall and recognition performance was evaluated. Auditory similarity, but not visual similarity, was found to be predictive of the probability of a correct response and response confidence for both types of tests. The results were interpreted as support for a single-trace model of recall and recognition performance.     

Free association,free recall,and stimulated recall compared

Three primary methods of recall (free association, free recall, stimulated recall) and two modifications of them (modified free association, modified stimulated recall) were defined by use of three variables: (a) presence or absence of prior laboratory training, (b) presence or absence of E controlled test stimulation, and (c) test instructions to free associate or to recall Data obtained from approximately 300 Ss and an earlier set of 600 revealed the differential effectiveness of all three primary methods in recall and misrecall.     

Word-order and imagery in the recall of adjective-noun phrases

Previous research using French material and subjects has found that noun-adjective pairs are easier to recall than adjective-noun pairs, which suggests that linguistic rules are important in determining performance. However, experiments using English material have also suggested that noun-adjective phrases are easier, although in English these pairs violate grammatical conventions. The latter findings have been interpreted as supporting the view that mental imagery is important in remembering. However, these studies are faulty in various respects. In an experiment on free recall, using English material, the grammatical order (adjective-noun) was found to produce better performance than the reversed order (noun-adjective), but only because reversed phrases tended to be reported in the conventional order. This supports the original view that grammatical constraints affect recall.     

Continued word associations and free recall

Two experiments on the short-term free recall of 12-word associated and non-associated lists are reported. Degree of association (derived from norms obtained by continuous controlled association) and word frequency were varied. Significant facilitation as a result of the associative manipulations was obtained and clustering of the responses was positively related to this. Clustering was also affected by the method of presentation of the associated words; this occurred more often when they were grouped in presentation than when they were presented randomly arranged among other words in the list. Low frequency associated word lists were generally found to be more efficiently recalled than those of comparable association values but consisting of high frequency words.     

Contextual variability and serial position effects in free recall.

In immediate free recall, words recalled successively tend to come from nearby serial positions. M. J. Kahana (1996) documented this effect and showed that this tendency, which the authors refer to as the lag recency effect, is well described by a variant of the search of associative memory (SAM) model (J. G. W. Raaijmakers & R. M. Shiffrin, 1980, 1981). In 2 experiments, participants performed immediate, delayed, and continuous distractor free recall under conditions designed to minimize rehearsal. The lag recency effect, previously observed in immediate free recall, was also observed in delayed and continuous distractor free recall. Although two-store memory models, such as SAM, readily account for the end-of-list recency effect in immediate free recall, and its attenuation in delayed free recall, these models fail to account for the long-term recency effect. By means of analytic simulations, the authors show that both the end of list recency effect and the lag recency effect, across all distractor conditions, can be explained by a single-store model in which context, retrieved with each recalled item, serves as a cue for subsequent recalls.