Abstract
In an attempt to separate auditory and visual components in short-term memory, five subjects were exposed to letter matrices composed of six visually confusable letters, six acoustically confusable letters, or a mixture of the two, under two response conditions: recognition and recall. A 50-msec stimulus presentation was followed by a variable dark interval of 1, 250, 1,000, or 3,000 msec. In the recall condition, the interval was followed by a buzzer which signaled the subject to recall, in any order, as many letters as possible. In the recognition condition, the variable interval was followed by a second letter matrix which was either identical to the first matrix or differed from is by one letter. Subjects responded either “same” or “different.” The results support the notion that the auditory component plays a major role in recall, whereas the visual component dominates in recognition.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bahrick, H. P., &Boucher, B. Retention of visual and verbal codes of the same stimuli.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1968,78, 417–422.
Bowma, G. Confusability of lower case matrices.Vision Research, 1971,5, 9–26.
Cofer, C. N. Does conceptual organization influence the amount retained in immediate free recall? In B. J. Kleinmuntz (Ed.),Concepts and the structure of memory. Wiley, New York: 1967. Pp. 181–214.
Cohen, R L. Effect of verbal labels on the recall of a visual1y perceived simple figure: Recognition vs. reproduction.Perceptual Motor Skills, 1966,23, 859–862.
Cohen, R. L. Interaction between a visually perceived simple figure and an appropriate verbal label in recall.Perceptual Motor Skills, 1967,24, 287–292.
Cohen, R. L., &Grandstrom, K. Interpolated task and mode of recall as variables in STM for visual figures.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1968,7, 653–658.
Cohen, R L., &Grandstrom, K. Reproduction and recognition in short-term visual memory.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1970,22, 450–457.
Conrad, R. Acoustic confusion in immediate memory.British Journal of Psychology, 1964,55, 75–84.
Conrad, R, &Hull, A. J. Information, acoustic confusion, and memory span.British Journal of Psychology, 1964,55, 429–432.
Dale, H. C. A. Response availability and short-term memory.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1967,6, 47–48.
Gibson, E. Learning to read.Science, 1965,148, 1066–1072.
Gibson, E. J., &Yonas, A. A developmental study of the effects of visual and auditory interference on a visual scanning task.Psychonomic Science, 1966,5, 163–164.
Glanzer, M., &Clark, W. H. Accuracy of perceptual recall: An analysis of organization.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1964,1, 289–299.
Neisser, U.Cognitive psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.
Shepard R. N. Recognition memory for words, sentences, and pictures.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1967,6, 156–163.
Sperling, G. A model for visual memory tasks.Human Factors, 1963,5, 19–31.
Sperling, G. Successive approximations to a model for short-term memory.Acta Psychologica, 1967,27, 285–292.
Tversky, B. Pictorial and verbal encoding in a STM task.Perception & Psychophysics, 1969,6, 225–233.
Wickelgren, W. Acoustic similarity and intrusion errors in short-term memory.Journal at Experimental Psychology, 1965,70, 102–108. (a)
Wickelgren W. Short-term memory for phonemical1y similar lists.American Journal at Psychology, 1965,78, 567–574. (b)
Weiner, M. Phonemic and visual coding in short-term memory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Yeshiva University, 1970.
Winer, B. J.Statistical principles in experimental design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by NRC Grant A8575 to the second author and by NRC Grant APA-300 to the third author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vingilis, E., Blake, J. & Theodor, L. Recognition vs recall of visually vs acoustically confusable letter matrices. Memory & Cognition 5, 146–150 (1977). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209206
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209206