The modality effect refers to the robust finding that memory performance differs for items presented aurally, as compared with visually. Whereas auditory presentation leads to stronger recency performance in immediate recall, visual presentation often produces better primacy performance (the inverse modality effect). To investigate and model these…

When we look at repeated scenes, we tend to visit similar regions each time--a phenomenon known as "resampling." Resampling has long been attributed to episodic memory, but the relationship between resampling and episodic memory has recently been found to be less consistent than assumed. A possibility that has yet to be fully considered…

This study investigated the role of sequential processing in spoken language outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), ages 5;3-11;4, by comparing them to children with typical hearing (TH), ages 6;3-9;7, on sequential learning and memory tasks involving easily nameable and difficult-to-name visual stimuli. Children who are DHH…

Visual and verbal learning in a genetic metabolic disorder (cystinosis) were examined in the following three studies. The goal of Study I was to provide a normative database and establish the reliability and validity of a new test of visual learning and memory (Visual Learning and Memory Test; VLMT) that was modeled after a widely used test of…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate rapid automatized naming skills (RAN) and immediate memory processes in 243 Chinese Mandarin-speaking elementary readers (ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 5). For RAN subtests, the mean naming time decreased monotonically with grade level in good and average readers, and a similar trajectory was found in poor…

Effects of acute alcohol intoxication on the storage phase of memory were evaluated with two tasks that minimized response retrieval: unpaced paired-associate learning with highly available responses and forced-choice picture recognition. It was concluded that storage processes are sensitive to disruption by alcohol. (CHK)

The first experiment determined that verbal interference (shadowing) was detrimental to the subjects' memory of words and high similarity pictures; the second, designed to minimize the possibility that students would sort through the pictures, indicated that verbal interference did not decrease memory of high similarity pictures. (Author/JEG)

A battery of tests requiring sequential responses, including WISC Digit Span, WISC Picture Arrangement, ITPA Digits, and ITPA Visual Motor Sequencing, was administered to 114 children. Fifty-seven children ranging in age from 6.6 to 13.7 years were clients referred to a reading clinic for diagnosis of reading difficulties; the other 57 were…

To determine whether different long-term memory representations are necessary for verbal and visual material, subjects studied faces composed of visual features or verbal facts composed of concepts. Findings showed interference between verbal and pictorial information, and supported the ACT theory that pictorial and verbal materials are stored…

In a permanently changing environment, it is by no means an easy task to distinguish potentially important events from negligible ones. Yet, to survive, every animal has to continuously face that challenge. How does the brain accomplish this feat? Building on previous work in "Drosophila melanogaster" visual learning, we have developed an…

The extent to which pictorial presentation would facilitate the comprehension of text-like passages among two populations of fourth-grade students was investigated. Subjects were 64 students each in high-socioeconomic status (SES) white and low-SES black groups. Simple passages amenable to pictorial presentation were read over a programed tape to…

The value of verbal labeling is shown by a study of fourth-grade, eighth-grade, and college students who were shown pictures accompanied by short verbal descriptions. Verbal descriptions increased correct recognitions and rejections of unrelated distractors, while increasing false recognition of related distractors. Results were consistent for all…

Visual and auditory stimuli were presented to children to measure symbol processing abilities. Slides which required matching the similarities in two objects in a group of three were presented. At times the matching criteria varied between function, color, and form. Reaction time was quicker when matching by color than by function, which was…

This study investigated whether and how visual representations of individual objects are bound in memory to scene context. Participants viewed a series of naturalistic scenes, and memory for the visual form of a target object in each scene was examined in a 2-alternative forced-choice test, with the distractor object either a different object…

In two experiments, volunteer subjects were asked to look at words and pictures, with or without an interference task. The results are interpreted to support a theory of a separate but not totally independent pictorial memory system. (Editor)