Free Recall of Verbal and Non-Verbal Stimuli

In two experiments, 40 and 72 male subjects viewed 24 items, half as words and half as drawings. In Experiment I, all subjects were given a learning set; free recall was tested immediately after stimulus presentation and 30 min. later. In Experiment II, half the subjects were set; recall was tested immediately and/or 1 day later. Picture recall was superior to word recall in all conditions (P < 0.005), in agreement with the findings of other investigators. Major extensions to previous procedures involved incidental learning, mixed stimulus lists, non-verbal reporting of pictures and delayed recall. A double-encoding explanation for the superior non-verbal performance is discussed.