THE EFFECTS OF STIMULUS PRESENTATION MODALITY AND LABELS ON SHORT-TERM MEMORY IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Abstract

Five-year-old children were tested in a serial position recall task under one of the three stimulus presentation conditions: visual, auditory and visual presentation with labeling. The modality of recall cue was either visual or auditory within a condition. Overt labeling produced both primacy and recency effects. A greater recency effect was obtained with auditory stimuli although recency effects were found for both visual and auditory stimuli. The modality of recall cue had no influence on either overall recall performance or on the shape of the serial position curve. The results indicated that preschoolers did not spontaneously label and rehearse the stimuli.