Does motoric imagery facilitate memory for sentences? A selective interference test

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that motoric enactment of sentences facilitates later sentence retention for both children and adults. While some writers have attributed this effect to the storage of motoric images, other writers have suggested that enactment may stimulate visual imagery or verbal mediation, and that these latter mechanisms may be basic to the facilitated memory. The present study was designed to distinguish among motoric imagery, visual imagery, and verbal mediation by means of a series of selective interference tests. In Experiment 1, 112 subjects learned sentences with the aid of motoric enactment, visual imagery, or simply as verbal statements. Experiment 1a showed that both motoric enactment and visual imagery significantly facilitated retention compared to a verbal-only control group. Experiment 1b showed that the effects of motoric enactment on sentence recall were disrupted by a motoric competition task, but the effects of visual imagery on recall were not affected by the motoric competition task. On the other hand, the effects of motoric enactment on sentence recall were not affected by a visual-competition task, but the effects of visual imagery were affected by the visual-competition task. Experiment 2, involving 64 subjects, demonstrated that a verbal-only technique for sentence memory was disrupted by a verbal competition task, but that the verbal competition task did not affect the facilitative effects of motoric enactment. Similarly, a motoric competition task again disrupted the facilitative effects of motoric enactment of sentences, but had little or no effect on sentences learned by means of verbal-only instructions. The results of the two experiments are interpreted as supporting the contention that motoric enactment is effective in sentences recall because it leads to the storage of some type of motoric trace or image.