Word and picture identification: Is representational parsimony possible?

Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the proposition that although prior exposure to a printed word facilitates identification of a corresponding picture, exposure to a picture does not facilitate subsequent word recognition (Durso & Johnson, 1979). Word identification was used, rather than naming latency, in order to avoid the range limitations in adult reading data. Word identification was facilitated by intermodal priming (prior exposure to a corresponding picture), although to a lesser extent than by intramodal (i.e., word-word) priming; the magnitude of intermodal priming was insensitive to strategy; and, as with priming from spoken to printed language, the major impact of word frequency occurred under intermodal, as distinct from intramodal, conditions. Following Scarborough, Gerard, and Cortese (1979), a fifth experiment compared word identification and episodic recognition. Intramodal performance was superior in word identification, whereas intermodal (i.e. picture-word) performance was superior in episodic recognition, a reversal which suggests that episodic recognition involves access to a distinct memory trace.

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