Weldon M S, Roediger H L, Challis B H
Mem Cognit. 1989 Jan;17(1):95-105. doi: 10.3758/bf03199561.
In three experiments, we examined why pictures are remembered better than words on explicit memory tests like recall and recognition, whereas words produce more priming than pictures on some implicit tests, such as word-fragment and word-stem completion (e.g., completing -l-ph-nt or ele----- as elephant). One possibility is that pictures are always more accessible than words if subjects are given explicit retrieval instructions. An alternative possibility is that the properties of the retrieval cues themselves constrain the retrieval processes engaged; word fragments might induce data-driven (perceptually based) retrieval, which favors words regardless of the retrieval instructions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that words were remembered better than pictures on both the word-fragment and word-stem completion tasks under both implicit and explicit retrieval conditions. In Experiment 2, pictures were recalled better than words with semantically related extralist cues. In Experiment 3, when semantic cues were combined with word fragments, pictures and words were recalled equally well under explicit retrieval conditions, but words were superior to pictures under implicit instructions. Thus, the inherently data-limited properties of fragmented words limit their use in accessing conceptual codes. Overall, the results indicate that retrieval operations are largely determined by properties of the retrieval cues under both implicit and explicit retrieval conditions.
在三项实验中，我们探究了为何在诸如回忆和识别这类显性记忆测试中，图片比文字记忆得更好，而在一些隐性测试（如单词片段补全和词干补全，例如将-l-ph-nt或ele-----补全为elephant）中，文字比图片产生的启动效应更强。一种可能性是，如果给被试明确的提取指令，图片总是比文字更容易获取。另一种可能性是，提取线索本身的特性会限制所采用的提取过程；单词片段可能会引发基于数据驱动（基于感知）的提取，这种提取方式更有利于文字，而与提取指令无关。实验1表明，在隐性和显性提取条件下，在单词片段补全和词干补全任务中，文字比图片记忆得更好。在实验2中，使用语义相关的额外列表线索时，图片比文字回忆得更好。在实验3中，当语义线索与单词片段相结合时，在显性提取条件下，图片和文字的回忆效果一样好，但在隐性指令下，文字优于图片。因此，碎片化单词固有的数据局限性限制了它们在获取概念代码中的应用。总体而言，结果表明，在隐性和显性提取条件下，提取操作很大程度上由提取线索的特性决定。
