Effects Of Verbal And Visual Stimuli On Memory

Abstract

The present articles focus is on the effect of verbal and visual stimuli on memory. Verbal and visual stimuli have profound influence on our cognitive processes and perception. Twenty participants were split into 2 groups, 10 picture accompanied and 10 non-picture accompanied. The non-picture group were read a list of 10 words (5 concrete and 5 abstract) and then asked to free recall. The picture group were also read a list of 10 picture accompanied words (5 concrete and 5 abstract) and asked to free recall. The hypothesis was not supported, as results were insignificant for remembering a picture word verus a non-picture word. There was also no change in results when the word was either concrete or abstract.Effects of Verbal and Visual

Stimuli on Memory

Language is a universal phenomenon. We all are born with the ability to speak and understand language. We are able to understand visual representations of words and meanings, i.e. crosswalk lights and restrooms signs. Studies that we would interpret as being concerned with verbal referential meaning have appeared under such titles as linguistic determinism, stimulus predifferentiation, and acquired distinctiveness of cues. The term linguistic determinism can be understood by Whorf's (1956) hypothesis that language determines thought in the sense that it codes and categorizes the environment for the individual. Meaning that language has an influence on cognitive processes and perception

An overwhelming majority of experiments have involved the presentation of stimuli to the eyes, ears, or both. Brown, Cowan, & Saults (2004) studied the manner in which stimuli are processed and remembered often depends heavily on the sensory modality of stimulation. The immediate recall of word lists is usually superior for spoken, as opposed to printed, presentations. Modality effects have often been examined within the context of immediate serial recall (Brown, Cowan, & Saults, 2004). Despite over 50 years of relevant research, there are still important unanswered question about modality effects (Gardiner & Cowan, 2003).

Marschark and Hunt (1989) proposed that the effects of concreteness on memory arise from relational and distinctive processing of items rather than imagery or dual coding mechanisms. Recognition increases from abstract words, to concrete words, to pictures (Paivio 1979). This means that a group of pictures would be easier to remember then a group of abstract words, i.e. debt, rude. Concrete items are especially effective as retrieval cues (Begg, Khan, Paivio, 2000). Nouns are superior to adjectives as retrieval cues for response terms and that the difference is largely attributable to the generally higher imagery value of nouns(Begg, Khan, Paivio, 2000). In the case of relatively familiar concrete and abstract words, the verbal code is directly and equally available, but the concrete words are more likely to evoke images because they are higher in referential meaning (Paivio 1979).

In immediate free recall, participants are presented with a list of to be remembered items, one at a time, and are then asked to try to recall as many items from the lists as they can remember, in any order that they wish. A general finding of free recall tasks is that recall of an item is strongly influenced by its position in a list. A common finding is that the last few items in the list are remembered best (recency effect), the first few items are remembered fairly well (primacy effect). Items in the middle of the lists are not recalled very well at all. The effect of serial position has played a major role in the development of memory theories. Paivio, Bons & Walsh (1994) tested two theories using free and cued recall of response items from lists of concrete and abstract paired associates in which the pair members were either associatively related or unrelated. Terry (2005) looked at the recall of television commercials, which incorporate a mix of verbal and visual stimuli.

The purpose of this research was to discover the effects of verbal and visual stimuli on memory. This study focused on subjects ability to remember concrete words versus abstract words and the recall of picture accompanied words versus

non-accompanied picture words. It was hypothesized that subjects would be better at remembering concrete picture accompanied