Abstract
In two experiments, subjects decided whether probes were true or false of one of some previously studied picture and prose episodes. The results indicated that response times to probes depicting explicit events were faster when they were in the same modality (picture or prose) as their episodes than when they were in the opposite modality, but response times to probes depicting implicit events were as fast when they were in the opposite modality as when they were in the same modality. These results suggest that the conceptual representations of picture and prose episodes are identical in form. The second experiment indicated that probes could be evaluated as fast from long as from short episodes. This result is consistent with the notion that retrieving information from episodes is done, not by scanning all the events of an episode, but by restricting the search only to the relevant slot in the schema into which the episode is assimilated.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anderson, J. R. Retrieval of propositional information from long-term memory.Cognitive Psychology, 1974,6, 451–474.
Anderson, J. R.Language, memory, and thought. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1976.
Anderson, J. R., &Bower, G. H.Human associative memory. Washington, D.C: Winston, 1973.
Anderson, R. C. Encoding processes in the storage and retrieval of sentences.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1971,91, 338–340.
Anderson, R. C. The notion of schemata and the educational enterprise. In R. C. Anderson, R. J. Spiro, & W. E. Montague (Eds.),Schooling and the acquisition of knowledge. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1977.
Baggett, P. Memory for explicit and implicit information in picture stories.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1975,14, 538–548.
Begg, I., &Paivio, A. Concreteness and imagery in sentence meaning.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1969,8, 821–827.
Bobrow, D. G., &Norman, D. A. Some principles of memory schemata. In D. G. Bobrow & A. Collins (Eds.),Representation and understanding. New York: Academic Press, 1975.
Bower, G. H., Black, J. B., &Turner, T. J. Scripts in memory for text.Cognitive Psychology, 1979,11, 177–220.
Bransford, J., Barclay, R., &Franks, J. 12 Sentence memory: A constructive versus interpretive approach.Cognitive Psychology, 1972,3, 193–209.
Bransford, J. D., &Franks, J. J. The abstraction of linguistic ideas.Cognitive Psychology, 1971,2, 331–350.
Friedman, A., &Bourne, L. E. Encoding the levels of information in pictures and words.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 1976,2, 169–190.
Harris, R. J., &Monaco, G. E. Psychology of pragmatic implication: Information processing between the lines.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1978,1, 1–22.
Hayes-Roth, B., &Hayes-Roth, F. The prominence of lexical information in memory representations of meaning.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1977,16, 119–136.
Honeck, R. P. Interpretive vs. structural effects on semantic memory.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1973,12, 448–455.
Johnson, M. K., Bransford, J. D., &Solomon, S. Memory for tacit implications of sentences.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1973,98, 203–205.
Keenan, J. M., &Kintsch, W. The identification of explicitly and implicitly presented information. In W. Kintsch (Ed.),The representation of meaning in memory. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1974.
King, D. R. W., &Greeno, J. G. Invariance of inference times when information was presented in different linguistic formats.Memory & Cognition, 1974,2, 233–235.
Kintsch, W.The representation of meaning in memory. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1974.
Kintsch, W., &Monk, D. Storage of complex information in memory: Some implications of the speed with which inferences can be made.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1972,94, 25–32.
Lewis, C. H., &Anderson, J. R. Interference with real world knowledge.Cognitive Psychology, 1972,8, 311–335.
McKoon, G., &Keenan, J. M. Response latencies to explicit and implicit statements as a function of the delay between reading and test. In W. Kintsch (Ed.),The representation of meaning in memory. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1974.
Minsky, M. A framework for representing knowledge. In P. Winston (Ed.),The psychology of computer vision. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975.
Moeser, S. D. The role of experimental design in investigations of the fan effect.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning andMemory, 1979,5, 125–134.
Norman, D., &Rumelhart, N.Explorations in cognition. San Francisco: Freeman, 1975.
Pezdek, K. Cross-modality semantic integration of sentence and picture memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning andMemory, 1977,3, 515–524.
Potter, M. C., &Faulconer, B. A. Time to understand pictures and words.Nature, 1975,253, 437–438.
Potts, G. R. Information processing strategies used in encoding linear orderings.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1972,11, 727–740.
Pylyshyn, Z. W. What the mind’s eye tells the mind’s brain: A critique of mental imagery.Psychological Bulletin, 1973,80, 1–24.
Rosenberg, S.. &Simon, H. A. Modeling semantic memory: Effects of presenting semantic information in different modalities.Cognitive Psychology, 1977,9, 293–325.
Sachs, J. D. S. Recognition memory for syntactic2676 and semantic aspects of connected discourse.Perception & Psychophysics, 1967,2, 437–442.
Schank, R. C. Conceptual dependency: A theory of natural language understanding.Cognitive Psychology, 1972,3, 552–631.
Schank, R. C. The structure of episodes in memory. In D. Bobrow & A. Collins (Eds.),Representation and understanding. New York: Academic Press, 1975.
Schank, R. C., &Abelson, R. P.Scripts, plans, goals, and understanding. Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1977.
Smith, E. E., Adams, N., &Schorr, D. Fact retrieval and the paradox of interference.Cognitive Psychology, 1978,10, 438–464.
Smith, E. E., Rips, L. J., &Shoben, E. J. Semantic memory and psychological semantics. In G. H. Bower (Ed.)The psychology of learning and motivation (Vol. 81. New York: Academic Press, 1974.
Thorndyke, P. W. The role of inferences in discourse comprehension.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1976,15, 437–446.
Thorndyke, P. W., &Bower, G. H. Storage and retrieval processes in sentence memory.Cognitive Psychology, 1974,6, 515–543.
Yuille, J. C., &Paivio, A. Abstractness and the recall of connected discourse.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969,82, 467–471.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guenther, R.K. Conceptual memory for picture and prose episodes. Memory & Cognition 8, 563–572 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213776
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213776