A Comparison of Visual versus Auditory Imagery in Predicting Word Recall

A strong relationship exits between a word's capacity to evoke imagery and the word's recallability. Researchers have attributed this finding to visual imagery, generally neglecting to study other forms of imagery. This study examined the relationship between word imagery and recallability for both visual and auditory imagery. Introductory psychology students imagined a future trip to a beach and rated the visual imagery or the auditory imagery of various objects. For example, they rated, “How easy is it to see [or hear] the waves?” Subsequently, students free recalled the objects. Results showed that visual imagery and word recallability were positively related. In contrast, auditory imagery and recallability were curvilinearly related; objects rated as easy to hear (audible) or difficult to hear (nonaudible) were recalled better than objects of intermediate audibility. We concluded that when students tried to imagine hearing nonaudible objects, the objects became distinctive and consequently memorable. Further, a curvilinear relationship did not occur for visual imagery because the objects were visible. Other interpretations of mental imagery were also considered.