The Relation of Serial Recall Performance to Verbal and Nonverbal Encoding Strategies in Middle- and Lower-Class Children

Abstract

LACHER, MIRIAM R. The Relation of Serial Recall Performance to Verbal and Nonverbal Encoding Strategies in Middleand Lower-Class Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 445-451. On the assumption that verbal production deficiency reflects engagement of nonverbal mnemonics, it is hypothesized that young children's verbal or nonverbal mnemonic encoding varies with socialized preferences and susceptibility of recall arrays to each representational mode. Effects of action content and verbal codability of stimulus pictures, parental occupational status, and verbal intelligence upon nonverbal serial recall were investigated in white first graders. Overt and reported verbalization and recall were higher for pictured static objects than for action pictures, and higher for arrays higher in verbal codability than for arrays lower in codability. Recall mode and scores were unrelated to social class. Middle-class boys manifested less overt verbalization during recall and boys higher in intelligence manifested more agreement in labeling pictures than less intelligent lower-class boys.