Using Recognition and Recall Measures to Evaluate the Stimulus Imagery Effect in Associative Learning

Summary

A paired associate task was used to assess the stimulus-imagery effects found in recognition and recall measures of retention when distractor items (either synonyms or homonyms) are used. The Ss were 32 female and male introductory psychology student volunteers (age range 19–26 years). The results indicated that the previous findings of Tatum were not directly generalizable. Level of stimulus-imagery (high-low) and type of distractor items used did not differentially affect the results. Time when data are collected is suggested as an important, but usually neglected, variable which may have affected the results of this study and which may have more pervasive effects in verbal learning research, which have gone undetected.