[The effect of orthographic difference between kanji and kana word on incidental memory].

Two experiments were designed to examine the effect of orthographic difference between Kanji and Kana word on memory. The experiments were carried out in incidental memory paradigms, where high and low imagery words without any homonyms were used as stimuli. In Exp. I, subjects were instructed to perform a phonological orienting task, then they were forced to take an unexpected memory test. Number of correct free recall for low imagery words was larger in Kanji than in Kana. In Exp. II, however, where subjects were instructed to perform a semantic orienting task, this effect was disappeared. These results were interpreted in terms of semantic encoding.