Dymarska, Agata and Connell, Louise and Banks, Briony (2023) More is not necessarily better: How different aspects of sensorimotor experience affect recognition memory for words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 49 (10). pp. 1572-1587. ISSN 0278-7393

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Abstract

Semantic richness theory predicts that words with richer, more distinctive semantic representations should facilitate performance in a word recognition memory task. We investigated the contribution of multiple aspects of sensorimotor experience—those relating to the body, communication, food, and objects—to word recognition memory, by analyzing megastudy data in a series of hierarchical linear regressions. We found that different forms of sensorimotor experience produced different effects on memory. While stronger grounding in object- and food-related experience facilitated word memory performance as expected for semantic richness, experience relating to communication did not. Critically, sensorimotor experience relating to the body impaired rather than facilitated recognition memory by inflating false alarms, which was not consistent with the idea that semantically richer representations are more memorable. Additionally, we found that pure imageability (i.e., consciously generating mental imagery, distinct from sensorimotor experience) contributes to semantic richness effects on word memory but with much smaller effect sizes than previously reported, once sensorimotor grounding was taken into account. These results suggest that word recognition memory is often but not consistently facilitated by rich semantic representations and that it is essential to separately consider distinct forms of sensorimotor experience rather than assuming more information is always better. The findings have implications for the use of semantic variables in memory research.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	word memory; sensorimotor information; imageability; semantic richness;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Psychology
Item ID:	19113
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001265
Depositing User:	Louise Connell
Date Deposited:	29 Oct 2024 12:16
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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