Effects on free recall of transforming visually and orally presented nouns into printed, picture, or imagery form

Two experiments using male and female college students studied the effects on free recall of transforming auditory and verbal stimuli into various forms. Experiment 1 (n = 240) presented nouns either auditorily by a tape recorder or visually as printed words. The Ss either imagined, traced, or drew (used a pencil) the nouns in the forms of pictures and words, pictures only, or words only. Significantly more items were recalled as a result of Ss responding with both words and pictures, and pictures only, as opposed to words alone and a control groups (p less than .01). In Experiment 2 (n = 108), the nouns were presented auditorily by a tape recorder. The nouns were imagined in the form of either pictures or words, in either the size of one-half of normal, normal, or two times normal, and in either a stationary or moving position. Significantly more items were recalled as a result of imagining in the form of a picture during the presentation of the stimuli, and significantly more were also recalled as a result of imagining in the normal size as opposed to larger or smaller sizes (p less than .05). The results replicated previous findings and also contribute to the body of knowledge concerning effects of transformations on free recall.