DYNAMICS OF ACTIVATION IN LONG-TERM-MEMORY - THE RETRIEVAL OF VERBAL,PICTORIAL, SPATIAL, AND COLOR INFORMATION

Paivio's (1986) dual code theory was tested in 5 experiments with a ne w paradigm for the FAN effect that enforced genuine memory recall. Sub jects had to learn associations between concepts and mediators. The FA N of the concepts in relation to the mediators was varied systematical ly. Response times (RT) were measured while subjects had to decide whe ther 2 concepts were linked to each other or not by a common mediator. In Experiment 1 the concepts and mediators were words, whereas in the other experiments the concepts were line drawings. Colors served as m ediators in Experiment 2 and spatial locations served as mediators in Experiments 3, 4, and 5. All of the experiments were equivalent with r espect to the FAN, the learning procedure, and the retrieval test. In all of the experiments, RT proved to be a linear function of the FAN. These results suggested that the same dynamics hold for all types of i nformation stored in long-term memory.