The relation between language and the way we perceive and remember the world has attracted philosophers and scientists for decades. Language is known to influence the processing of visual information. However, little is known about the effect of verbal coding of a perceived object on processing and maintenance of visual memories. Haggar Cohen-Dallal and Noa Rahamim-Elyakim from Yoni Pertzov’s lab, in collaboration with Nachum Soroker from Loewenstein Rehabilitation Medical Center, took a classic neuropsychologic approach to examine this question by testing stroke patients with aphasia - a common language deficit following stroke. Patients with aphasia typically have trouble to name objects. Here we compared the patients’ memory performance for objects they could and couldn’t name. The results imply a counterintuitive effect of verbal coding – it seems to worsen the precision of memory of the location of objects. The findings point to an interaction between the verbal and visuospatial components of working memory. The results can be explained by the prototypical-categorical nature of language-derived designations (names, common nouns) of visual objects, which are not precise enough for capturing fine details of objects, and specifically their exact location. Thus, language can, sometimes, impair precise visual memory.

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