Perceptual and conceptual cueing in implicit and explicit retrieval

Abstract

Subjects saw or heard words in a list (e.g. limerick) and then took two successive tests. The first was a yes/ho recognition test in which auditory/visual modality of test words was manipulated orthogonally to the study modality. The second test varied with experimental conditions: subjects produced words to either perceptual (fragment) cues (1–e-ick) or conceptual cues (What name is given to a lighthearted five-line poem?), under either explicit or implicit retrieval instructions. The major findings were: (a) that regardless of the type of retrieval cue (perceptual or conceptual) the degree of dependency between recognition and cued recall was greater than that between recognition and implicit retrieval; and (b) that modality shifts adversely affected perceptually cued explicit and implicit retrieval, whereas they had no effect either on conceptually cued retrieval or on recognition. These results suggest that the memory system subserving, and the processes involved in, conceptual priming differ from those underlying recognition and perceptual priming.