Word imagery but not age of acquisition affects episodic memory

Evidence is presented from two experiments and from a reanalysis of data published by Christian, Bickley, Tarka, and Clayton (1978) that the chronological age at which a word is acquired does not affect free recall or recognition memory. Morris's (1981) report, that late acquired words are better recalled than early acquired words, was not replicated and appears to be attributable to a difference in the emotionality value of his lists. Although the data are consistent with an interpretation in terms of semantic, but not episodic, memory tasks' being sensitive to word age of acquisition, it is suggested that a more fine-grained analysis is necessary.