Memory search processes for words and pictures in elementary school children

Abstract

Children in the fourth and sixth grades searched memory sets of two, three, or four items for the presence of a given word or picture probe. The memory sets were all of one form on any trial, being either words or easily nameable pictures, and the probe form was varied to match or mismatch the form of the memory items. Subjects responded more rapidly when the probe form and memory set form matched, an effect that did not interact with the number of memory set items. Presumably, stimulus form effects are limited to encoding processes which precede comparisons between the probe and memory set items. The comparison process itself appears to be independent of the form in which the probe is presented.