Encoding and performance in sentence verification under varying memory load

Subjects verified verbal descriptions of the forms "This (is, is not) a (color) (shape)" and "This (is, is not) a (shape) that's (color)" against two-dimensional geometric figures. The figure was seen immediately after the description was heard or after a filled delay. Latency and error data indicated that differences in surface-structure organization affected encoding but not comparison. Some subjects appeared to transform negative conjunctions into positive disjunctions before comparison. More subjects showed this transformation under delayed than under immediate utilization. Dimensional comparison was an unlimited-capacity process under immediate utilization, but showed capacity limitations under delayed utilization.