Abstract
Within-modal and cross-modal implicit and explicit memory: Influence of modalities and the stimulus type. It has been argued that priming is perceptually and modality specific. In a series of studies, we have explored the hypothesis that the modality effect might be due to the type of information processed by the modalities selected for stimulus presentation. Cross-modal studies have used verbal stimuli presented to vision and audition. We studied the influence of a modality shift from vision to touch and vice versa. We found that memory for haptically explored objects it is not perceptually specific. Changing the mode of object exploration from study-to-test (without gloves/with gloves) did not dimished priming but impaired recognition. Cross-modal studies showed total transfer between and within modalities. These findings, coupled with the fact that neither a levels-of processing manipulation nor the delay between study and test impaired implicit memory, were interpreted in the way that similar structural descriptions underlie object priming in both modalities. Our results suggest that the representations that support cross-modal implicit memory are abstract, long-lasting and presemantic.
