PICTORIAL ENCODING REDUCES FALSE RECOGNITION OF SEMANTIC ASSOCIATES

High levels of false recognition can be observed after people study li sts of semantic associates that all converge on a nonpresented lure wo rd. To test the idea that encoding distinctive perceptual information would help to reduce false recognition, we presented a line drawing re presenting each associated word during study list presentation and lat er tested recognition of studied words and lure words. Two experiments revealed marked reductions in false recognition after pictorial encod ing, relative after to word encoding. Results suggest that people reje ct related and unrelated lures because these items lack the distinctiv e qualities associated with remembered pictures.