The supposed effect of interactive imagery in paired associate learning

Previous experiments designed to investigate the effects of interactive imagery in paired associate learning have included the confounded variable of intralist similarity: Images of objects interacting have corresponded to pairs with different connectives, and images of independent objects have corresponded to pairs with the same connective (the conjunction "and"). For the "different" group of our first experiment, the members of the different pairs were linked by different connectives, most of which denoted an action. For the "same" group, the members were linked by the same connective, usually one denoting an action. For the "and" group, the members were linked by the connective "and". Cued recall by the "different" group was superior to that of the other two groups. Recall by the "same" and "and" groups did not differ. Within the "different" group, recall of "and" pairs did not differ from the recall of "action" pairs with which they had been mixed. In a second experiment, subjects were required to match the members of a pair. Analogous results were obtained. Overall, the findings imply that recall effects that have previously been interpreted as being a result of interactive imagery may be the result merely of variations in intralist similarity.