Cross-Modality Semantic Integration of Sentence and Picture Memory

The present studies assessedthe effect of intervening items on the accuracy of recognition memory for pictures and sentences. Subjects were presented a sequence of 24 pictures and sentences, later followed by the presentation of 24 intervening items. Each intervening item corresponded to, but was in the opposite modality from, one of the original items. These intervening items were either semantically relevant or irrelevant to the corresponding originals. Subjects then received a "same-different" recognition test that included original and changed items. Despite the difference in modality, the presence of a semantically relevant intervening item depressed the obtained values of d' and the probability of a hit, relative to the effects of an irrelevant intervening item. The data are discussed in terms of support for the integration property of constructive memory. The interpretation is that subjects semantically integrated the original items with the relevant intervening items and made subsequent recognition responses on the basis of the integrated memory.