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Does retention of order require verbal labelling?

N C Waugh1, R A Barr

  • 1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, England.

Experimental Aging Research
|January 1, 1989
PubMed
Summary

Older and younger adults recalled item positions from lists of words or pictures. Distinctive pictures improved recall, suggesting verbal labeling is unnecessary for remembering item order.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Human Memory
  • Information Processing

Background:

  • Memory recall is influenced by item modality (words vs. pictures).
  • The pictorial superiority effect suggests pictures are remembered better than words.
  • Understanding factors affecting serial position recall is crucial for memory research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of item modality (pictures vs. words) on serial position recall.
  • To examine how conceptual distinctiveness of pictures influences memory performance.
  • To assess age-related differences in memory recall and their interaction with experimental variables.

Main Methods:

  • Participants (older and younger adults) viewed lists of words or pictures presented sequentially.
  • Recall of the serial position for each item was tested at the end of each list.
  • Picture lists varied in conceptual homogeneity versus distinctiveness.

Main Results:

  • A strong primacy effect was observed; recency effects were minimal unless the last item was tested first.
  • The pictorial superiority effect was absent for homogenous pictures but present for distinctive ones.
  • Higher error rates correlated with judged item similarity; younger adults generally outperformed older adults.

Conclusions:

  • Conceptual distinctiveness is key for the pictorial superiority effect in serial recall.
  • Verbal labeling of pictures is not essential for retaining their serial positions.
  • While age impacts overall performance, it does not interact with memory variables in this context.

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