A conceptual–perceptual distinctiveness processing account of the superior recognition memory of pictures over environmental sounds

Abstract

Researchers have proposed a gist-based representation for sounds, whereas a more verbatim-based representation is retrieved from long-term memory to account for higher recognition performance for pictures. The current study examined the mechanism for the recognition advantage for pictures. In Experiment 1A, pictures and sounds were presented in separate trials in a mixed list during the study phase and participants showed in a yes-no test, a higher proportion of correct responses for targets, exemplar foils categorically related to the target, and novel foils for pictures compared to sounds. In Experiment 1B, the picture recognition advantage was replicated in a two-alternative forced-choice test for the novel and exemplar foil conditions. In Experiment 2A, even when verbal labels were presented for sounds during the study phase, a recognition advantage for pictures was shown for both targets and exemplar foils. Experiment 2B showed that the presence of verbal labels for sounds, during both the study and test phases did not eliminate the advantage of recognition of pictures in terms of correct rejection of exemplar foils. Finally in our last two experiments, we examined if the degree of similarity within pictures and sounds could account for the recognition advantage of pictures. The mean similarity rating for pictures was higher than the mean similarity rating for sounds in the exemplar test condition, whereas mean similarity rating for sounds was higher than pictures in the novel test condition. We propose a conceptual-perceptual distinctiveness processing account of recognition memory for pictures and sounds.