Visual Imagery Differences in the Recall of Pictures

Male and female subjects who differed in their verbal reports of visual image vividness were tested for recall in three experiments involving coloured photographs as stimuli. In all three experiments subjects who reported vivid visual imagery were more accurate in recall than subjects who reported poor visual imagery. In the first two experiments, females recalled more accurately than males. On the assumption that vividness reports and recall were both mediated by the same covert event ‐ a visual image ‐ these results provide further evidence that images have an important role in memory.