STEP: Altering Retrieval Demands Reverses the Picture Superiority Effect [35339]

This article applies to:
E-Prime 3.0
E-Prime 1.0

 
Detail
Experiment Author: Susan Campbell. Adapted from STEP and used with permission of Brian MacWhinney
 
Experiment Description

This experiment replicates Experiment 1 of the study. Participants are shown a set of word and picture stimuli, then asked to do word completion. The answers to the word completion questions should correspond to the words (or the word equivalent of the pictures) presented earlier.
 
Experiment Instructions

In this experiment several words and pictures appear in a randomized order. The duration for each is 4250 milliseconds. There are 22 words or pictures in this block. Remember as many as possible. In the next section participants complete 33 words with blanks, typing the full word and pressing enter to move on to the next word. In the next section the trials repeat, except during the recall phase no words with blanks appear to assist in remembering. Type as many words as possible from the previously shown list of words and pictures, pressing enter after typing each word.

Experiment Citation

Weldon, M.S., & Roediger, H.L., III (1987). Altering retrieval demands reverses the picture superiority effect. Memory and Cognition 15(4), 269-280.
 
Cited Experiment Abstract

In Experiment 1 subjects studied a mixed list of pictures and words and then received either a free recall test or a word fragment completion test (e.g., _ yr _ mi _ for pyramid) on which some fragments corresponded to previously studied items. Free recall of pictures was better than that of words. However, words produced greater priming than did pictures on the fragment completion test, although a small amount of picture priming did occur. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the picture priming was not due to implicit naming of the pictures during study. In Experiment 4 subjects studied words and pictures and received either the word fragment completion test or a picture fragment identification test in which they had to name degraded pictures. Greater priming was obtained with words in word fragment completion, but greater priming was obtained with pictures on the picture identification test. We conclude that (1) the type of retrieval query determines whether pictures or words will exhibit superior retention, and (2) our results conform to the principle of transfer appropriate processing by which performance on transfer or retention tests benefits to the extent that the tests recapitulate operations used during learning.
 
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See Also:

STEP: Perceptual Enhancement: Persistent Effects of an Experience [35169]

STEP: Depth of Processing and the Retention of Words in Episodic Memory [35113]