Labeling Effects in Short-Term Memory

The effects of verbalizing labels for stimuli in a short-term-memory (STM) task were investigated. Ss, ranging in age from nursery school to grade 5, were given 16 trials involving presentation of pictures 1 by 1 with subsequent test for recall. Half of the Ss overtly labeled the stimuli and half did not. It was found that overt labeling facilitated STM performance for Ss in the intermediate age range but not for the youngest and oldest Ss. Facilitation by overt labeling was confined largely to the most recent serial positions. An age-related improvement in STM performance was also found. These findings are discussed in terms of current theories of information processing and verbal mediation.