Inter- and intramodal encoding of auditory and visual presentation of material: Effects on memory performance

Different encoding activities during list learning, such as writing down or reading aloud, have a differential effect on memory performance, It has be en argued that intermodal processing, that is, auditory processing of visua lly presented material and vice versa, results in a better performance than intramodal processing. This has been referred to as the "translation hypot hesis." In this study, we set out to test the translation hypothesis lookin g at all four possible experimental conditions using visual and auditory pr esentation and writing and vocalization as encoding activities. The results show a similar memory performance in all conditions apart from the one in which visually presented words had to be written down. That is, in the only condition in which subjects did not hear the words (either via auditory pr esentation or via their own vocalization), fewer words were remembered. The se findings do not support the translation hypothesis and are more in agree ment with previous theoretical proposals regarding long-term modality effec ts.