Interference effects on the recall of pictures, printed words, and spoken words

Abstract

In an extension of the work of Pellegrino, Siegel, and Dhawan, nouns were presented in triads as pictures, printed words, or spoken words and followed by visual, acoustic, visual and acoustic, or no interference. Recall, presentation type, and confidence ratings were elicited after each triad. After all triads were presented, participants free-recalled as many nouns as possible, indicated presentation type, and rated confidence as measures of long-term memory. In short-term memory, pictorial superiority was noted under conditions of acoustic and visual and acoustic interference but not after visual interference. Long-term memory data showed superior recall for pictures. These results were compared to the Pellegrino et al. research and to Paivio's dual coding hypothesis, and differences in patterns of short-term and long-term memory data were interpreted within a levels of processing framework.