Imaginary versus repetitive encoding in short and long-term memory (Lee Elliott)

Two independent groups instructed in mental imagery or rote repetition, were tested on short- and long-term recall. Recall performance was superior for the imaginal instructional set as opposed to the rote repetition condition, and for words of high imagery value in contrast to low imagery words. The visual language task and the auditory nonverbal task provided differential and maximal interference under imaginal and rote repetition conditions.