IMPLICIT MEMORY FOR NONVERBAL ASSOCIATIONS

A color-naming priming task was used to examine implicit memory for ne w nonverbal associations. Implicit memory was observed for association s between words and colors and between abstract shapes and colors. The authors also asked whether nonverbal association priming might occur more readily than verbal association priming. Colored compound nonword s were used as stimuli, and participants were asked to attend either t o the 2 syllables of the compound nonword or to the compound nonword a nd the color in which it was printed. The authors found that the assoc iation formed depended on which attributes of the stimuli were attende d to and were not more readily formed for nonverbal material. The resu lts demonstrate that tasks that encourage unitization between the elem ents to be associated facilitate associative priming.