This special issue, Verbalising Visual Memories, comprises research on: (a) verbal interference and facilitation in face and person processing; (b) similarities and differences between effects of verbalisation and processing in the Navon task (Navon, 1977)

and (c) effects of verbalisation in visual imagery and object memory. It is clear that verbal processes influence the encoding, storage and retrieval of visual information. Moreover, different forms of verbal interference and facilitation are likely to be due to different mechanisms in different contexts. The state-of-the-art is that we are just beginning to understand the rich complexity of the problem.