Effects of Imagery on Perceptual Implicit Memory Tests

Four experiments demonstrate that imagery can promote priming on perceptual implicit memory tests. When Ss were given words during a study phase and asked to form mental images of corresponding pictures, more priming was obtained on a picture fragment identification test than from a study condition in which Ss performed semantic analyses of words. Imaginal priming of picture fragment identification occurred for recoverable fragments, but not for nonrecoverable fragments. The imagery effect was restricted to the imaged type of material: Imaging pictures (when presented with words) enhanced priming on a picture fragment identification test but not on word fragment completion. Similarly, when pictures were presented, imagining the corresponding words increased priming on word fragment completion but not on picture fragment identification. Overall, results support the hypothesis that imagining engages some of the same mechanisms used in perception and thereby produces priming.