Pictorial coding of verbal descriptions

Two experiments are described in which subjects matched written verbal descriptions against pictures of geometric shapes. The first experiment demonstrated that a difference in reaction time between simultaneously displayed description picture and picture-picture combinations was entirely eliminated when a I-S delay occurred between the stimuli, implying that the description might be converted to a pictorial form of coding. A second experiment assessed the effects of variation in the complexity of the verbal description on description-picture comparison times, where the two displays might be presented simultaneously, or successively, with the description first, or the picture first. Complexity interacted with presentation conditions, having its greatest effect on the Simultaneous condition and least effect on the Successive condition in which the description preceded the picture. Some theoretical implications of these results are discussed.