Reproduction and Recognition in Short-Term Visual Memory

Reproduction and recognition in short-term visual memory was tested. In Experiment I, it was confirmed that the ability to reproduce visual figures in STM correlated with the ability to describe them. No such correlation was obtained when recall was by recognition. In Experiments II and III the mechanisms involved in the two types of recall were investigated by varying the character of the task interpolated in the retention interval. Results support the view that reproduction has a verbal component which is lacking in recognition.