The influence of the labeling of pictures of "borderline meaningfulness" on recall and recognition.

An attempt was made to enhance (by means of instruction) the verbal labeling and recall of schematic pictures which uninformed Ss tended to perceive as senseless. Sixty-nine male and female undergraduate students in psychology, about 19 years of age, took part in the experiment. Ss were confronted with 16 schematic pictures half of which referred to a predefined semantical category. In Condition I Ss were informed in advance that some of the pictures belonged to the predefined category. In Condition II the pictures were presented as senseless. In Condition III information about the belonging of some of the items to one semantical category was postponed until just prior to free recall. The results indicated that verbal labeling of the pictures involved was stimulated by appropriate instruction, enhancing later free recall. However, the critical information had to be given prior to actual learning. In a subsequent test for recognition no differences were observed between the conditions.