Summary
An experiment was presented to test a functionalistic interpretation of the modality effect. This shows a superior recall performance for auditorily as opposed to visually presented verbal information. A total of 60 subjects were presented with mixed-mode (auditory-visual words), mixed-language (Swedish-English words), or mixed-category (category-unrelated words) lists, and were asked to recall the words of each list in any preferred order. The degree of organization according to modality, language, or category and the recall performance were measured. Organization by modality was significantly higher than organization by language or category as predicted by the functionalistic view proposed. The recall performance obtained for auditory and visual words differed in a way predicted by the functionalistic view.
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Rönnberg, J., Nilsson, LG. & Ohlsson, K. Organization by modality, language, and category compared. Psychol. Res 44, 369–379 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309331
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00309331