THREE STUDIES INVESTIGATE AUDITORY AND VISUAL MEMORY ABILITIES AND THEIR POTENTIAL ROLES AS INSTRUCTIONAL AND PERSONNEL PREDICTORS. STUDY I PRESENTS TO 185 COLLEGE FRESHMEN 42 ABILITY TESTS FROM WHICH SEVEN MAJOR ROTATED FACTORS EMERGE--SERIAL MEMORY SPAN, SERIAL INTEGRATION, ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY, ABSTRACTS FROM SOCIAL INTERACTION SITUATIONS, VERBAL INTELLIGENCE, AUDITORY MEMORY FOR VERBAL DETAIL, AND PERCEPTUAL FORESIGHT AND MEMORY FOR TEMPORAL ORDER. STUDY II PRESENTS TO 159 FRESHMEN 25 FILM AND PRINT TESTS, INCLUDING MEASURES OF VIEWING DISTANCE AND ANGLE. THE FIRST FOUR FACTORS RE-EMERGE AND ARE JOINED BY--SHORT TERM MEMORY, FILM SEQUENCE MEMORY, VOCABULARY, AND SHORT TERM VISUAL MEMORY. STUDY III FURTHER ANALYZES SIX SUB-TESTS FROM II COVERING SHORT TERM VISUAL, OBJECT, AND COLOR MEMORY BY SYSTEMATICALLY VARYING EXPOSURE TIME. VARIANCE FROM THE SERIAL INTEGRATION FACTOR (TEMPORAL CLOSURE--"RAPID RECEPTION OF TEMPORALLY SPACED STIMULI AND THEIR ORGANIZATION INTO MEANINGFUL WHOLE COGNITIONS") CONSISTENTLY APPEARS OR IS ABSENT FROM THE SUB-TESTS, SO SERIAL INTEGRATION SEEMS TO SHOW THE MOST PROMOSE FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS, POSSIBLY AS A FIGURAL COGNITION ABILITY. SHORT TERM VISUAL MEMORY ABILITIES CHANGE NOTICEABLY EVEN WHEN CHANGES IN TASKS ARE SLIGHT. OTHER RESULTS ARE INCONCLUSIVE. (LH)