Schedule of Events | Symposia

Unlocking The Power of Memory: Perception, Encoding, and Recall

Poster Session C - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Kristie Stephens¹, Emily Stripling¹, Karlie Souder¹, Aram Akbari¹, Emma Chacon¹, Liam Fienberg¹, Dara Olopade¹, Smyth Harper¹, Michael D. Oliver, Ph.D.¹; ¹Belmont University

Memory encoding, storage, and retrieval are crucial cognitive processes, influenced by the sensory modalities through which information is presented. However, research is mixed regarding which stimulus presentation (e.g., auditory vs. visual) is more effective during long-term retrieval. In this study, it is hypothesized that auditory presentation will result in better retrieval due to more elaborate spreading activation when compared to visual. Thirty-four participants were divided into 3 groups and exposed to 33 items presented in either auditory (i.e., sound) or visual formats; with visual stimuli further divided into visual imagery (i.e., picture) and visual words. After a 10-minute delay, participants were asked to write as many words as they could freely recall, as well as to complete a computerized Lexical Decision Task on E-Prime where they pressed a button indicating whether they recognized the stimulus word from the previous presentation while event-related potentials were measured simultaneously. Results reveal better free recall in the auditory compared to both visual conditions (p<0.001), which is supported by the fact that auditory information reaches the brain faster, and is thus encoded and likely recalled more efficiently, than visual information. For the recognition task, P300 amplitude was greater for incorrect compared to correct trials specifically in the visual word condition (p<0.001), suggesting that familiarity influences how visual errors are processed neurologically. Investigating how sensory stimuli impacts memory processes can highlight neural areas involved in auditory versus visual information processing, which may lead to optimizing educational strategies tailored to specific sensory modalities, potentially enhancing learning environments.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Semantic