Short-term sequential memory for pictures and words

Abstract

Pictures, concrete nouns, or abstract nouns were presented sequentially at rates of 5.3 or 2 items/sec, the faster rate being designed to prevent implicit labeling of pictures during input while permitting pictures to be recognized and words to be read. Sequential memory was tested by means of a serial reconstruction task. Consistent with previous findings for immediate memory span, sequential memory was better for words than for pictures at the fast but not at the slower rate. The results further support a theory that distinguishes between imaginal and verbal memory codes, partly in terms of their relative capacity for storing sequential information. © 1971, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.