The mind's eye and metered-memory search

The effects of imagery value of noun stimuli were investigated in a metered-memory search paradigm. A within-subjects design was used with two levels of imagery (high or low) and three transformation levels. Response latency increased significantly with transformation level and was significantly faster when high-imagery nouns composed the memory set. The imagery effect was not found to lead to differential search rates. The hypothesis that metered-memory search would include a component of visually regenerating the memory set and holding it for the actual search was supported. No evidence was found against the notion that the search itself was verbal in nature.