Verbal overshadowing of memories for fencing movements is mediated by expertise

Does verbalizing a previously-seen complex visual stimulus influence its subsequent recollection? We investigated this question by examining the mediating role played by expertise level in fencing on the effects of verbalizing upon visual memory. Participants with three distinct levels of expertise...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-02, Vol.9 (2), p.e89276-e89276
Main Authors: Defrasne Ait-Said, Elise, Maquestiaux, François, Didierjean, André
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aptitude - physiology
Biology
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive psychology
Experimental psychology
Female
Humans
Hypotheses
Intermediates
Language
Male
Medicine
Memory
Memory - physiology
Movement - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Problem solving
Recognition
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Speech - physiology
Visual effects
Visual stimuli
Young Adult
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Summary:Does verbalizing a previously-seen complex visual stimulus influence its subsequent recollection? We investigated this question by examining the mediating role played by expertise level in fencing on the effects of verbalizing upon visual memory. Participants with three distinct levels of expertise in fencing (novices, intermediates, experts) performed seven trials. In each trial, they first watched four times a short video that displayed fencing movements. Then, half of them verbalized the previously-seen visual stimulus (i.e., the verbalization group), the other half carried out a hidden-word task (i.e., the non-verbalization group). Finally, all the participants were asked to recognize the previously-seen fencing movements amongst novel fencing movements. Overall, verbalizing improved recognition for novices, altered recognition for intermediates, and had no effect for experts. These findings replicated the classical verbal-overshadowing effect, while extending it to a more conceptual material. They also point out to some potential benefits and costs of verbalizing on visual memory, depending on the level of expertise.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0089276