Individual Differences in Visual and Auditory Memory^

Two groups were given visual and auditory forma of a digit memory test in a counterbalanced order (auditory-visual group and visualauditory group) under conditions of immediate and 10-second delayed recall. Two control groups were given exclusively either the visual or auditory test. Auditory memory was better than visual for immediate recall; the reverse was true for delayed recall, the interaction being significant beyond p < .001. The correlations between individual differences in auditory and visual memory, after correction for attenuation based on reliabilities obtained from the control groups, did not significantly differ from unity for either immediate or delayed recall. Thus there was no evidence for individual differences as a function of sensory modality of the input. On the other hand, there was a significant (p < .001) interaction between subjects and time of recall (immediate versus delayed).