Modality effect

The modality effect refers to the process by which the brain exhibits an increased memory capabilities when utilizing multiple sensory modes.

This applies to all sensory modes however the current empirical research has focused solely on the Visual and Auditory modalities. These studies they found that during the mind would have enhanced recall when a presentation included both auditory and visual sensory modes Vs. Visual only.

Sources

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6447188&dopt=Abstract J Exp Psychol Gen. 1980 Sep;109(3):251-78. The modality effect and echoic persistence. Watkins OC, Watkins MJ.

http://coglab.wadsworth.com/experiments/ModalityEffect/index.html

Neath, I., & Surprenant, A. M. (2003). Human memory: An introduction to research, data, and theory, second edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.