The effects of verbal labeling on short-term and incidental memory: A cross-cultural and developmental study

Effects of induced verbal labeling on short-term and incidental memory were studied in Yucatan, Mexico. The 208 subjects, evenly divided by sex, were selected from four age groups (7-8, 10-11, 13-15, 20-21 years) from a large public school. Stimuli were cards depicting both animals and objects familiar to all subjects, and were presented over 14 trials. Short-term memory was tested with a probed serial recall task on each trial; incidental memory was tested following the 14 trials. Several results conformed to findings with earlier studies using American subjects: short-term memory improved with age; primacy and recency recall were influenced by both age and labeling; and the typical inverted U-shaped incidental memory function was found. Verbal labeling apparently aided recall by focusing attention on the relevant items, but such overt labeling also impeded the strategy of verbal rehearsal used by older subjects. Cultural factors appeared to play a limited role in the present study; the common element of formal schooling, among both American and Yucatecan subjects, was hypothesized as a possible explanation of such cross-cultural similarities.