Memory effects and sensory integration: an examination of sensory modality translation models of intersensory functioning.

The sensory modality of a task and the modality of a retroactive interfering activity were systematically covaried in order to test Connolly and Jones' and Pick's translation models of intersensory functioning. Forty 10-year-old boys and girls were asked to recall distance and location cues of length under intrasensory and intersensory task conditions (visual and kinesthetic). Visual and kinesthetic interpolated activities were used in an attempt to provide modality specific interference with the recall of length under the various sensory task conditions. Results of the data analyses provided no support for the Connolly and Jones model of modality specific storage with translation. Rather, the findings of the study were interpreted as supportive of Pick's hypothesis which emphasizes the coding of stimulus information (regardless of modality of input) into a form specific to whatever modality is specialized for detection of the information.