Selective attention in visual recognition with pictorial and verbal alternatives

A previous experiment by B. Tversky (see LLBA V/1, p. 390) suggested the possibility of perceptual selection (of pictures) with verbal alternatives--i.e., the Ss might pictorially recode verbal information & subsequently process a pictorial target selectively for critical features. The 48 female student volunteers, 16 per group, were divided into eight groups & given a factorial combination of three variables: time of cue (before & after test pictures, or after tests only), similarity of alternatives (similar vs dissimilar), & alternative types (pictorial or verbal). Dissimilar alternatives were more frequently recognized, with the greatest difference being in the after-tests-only condition. The time when dissimilar alternatives were presented had little effect on performance. Verbal recognition was generally poorer than pictorial. Modified HA