The role of the verb in sentence memory

Investigators have frequently found that nouns are more important than verbs in the memory representation of sentences. This pattern of results is incompatible with recent theories of sentence memory that have emphasized the verb and with the results of sentence comprehension studies that have demonstrated the importance of the verb. The four experiments reported here were designed to reexamine the role of the verb in sentence memory. Linguistic variables other than sentence function were held constant in three studies. Verbs were recalled as well and were as effective retrieval cues as nouns in these experiments. The to-be-remembered sentences were presented in the context of paragraphs in the fourth experiment. This reduced the difference in level of recall between subjects, verbs, and objects. The conclusion was drawn that the verb is no less important than sentence nouns in the memory representation.