Role of imagery and verbal labeling in the performance of paired associates tasks by persons with closed head injury.

The facilitating effects of visual imagery and verbal labeling strategies on learning and retention were examined with 60 survivors of closed-head injury. Because individuals without known neurological deficits use cognitive strategies when learning new materials, we expected that head-injured subjects could also be taught to use these strategies. Subjects were asked to memorize the verbal and visual paired associates stimulus items from the revised Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R). One group of subjects received mental imagery instructions to help them learn the verbal paired associates. Another group received verbal labeling training to help them learn the visual paired associates. Subjects who received imagery but not verbal labeling instructions were able to recall more paired associations than those who did not receive imagery. Those subjects who received verbal labeling but not imagery instructions recalled more visual paired associations than those who did not. Subjects who received learning instructions also showed better retention of the learned information.