Order of recall, output interference, and the modality effect

Abstract

In free recall, the order of recall following auditory and visual presentation differs; it tends to be forward for auditory but backward for visual. The first two experiments examined to what extent this difference in output order could account for the modality effect (i.e., a superior retention of auditorily as opposed to visually presented words). Order of recall was manipulated using postcued (Experiment 1) and precued (Experiment 2) procedures. Whereas the modality effect was unaffected with postcueing it was reduced to approximately half its size with precueing. It was concluded from these two studies that although output order cannot explain the whole modality effect, it does seem to play an important role for part of the effect in some situations. Experiments 3 and 4 used a mixed-mode and a probed recall procedure, respectively, to examine the role of output interference in modality experiments. The data suggested that output interference effects were non-monotonic; they were greater for visual than for auditory early in recall, but apparently no different later in recall. The two-store hypotheses (Murdock and Walker, 1969) was elaborated slightly to account for these results.