Summary : Modality of presentation, word frequency and the order responses during the immediate free recall. The analysis of rank order in immediate recall of strings of words presented visually or orally throws light on intermediate processing taking place between information input and response. The role of graphemic and phonologie coding at the input phase and its influence on semantic coding was inoestigated. It was hypothesized that such processings are intervening in parallel with the activation of response programs : as soon as coding takes place, the corresponding « phonetico-articulatory » programme is activated. With lists of 4, 6 and 8 words (involving 2 words of high frequency, set either in the beginning, either in the middle or in the end of the string, it was found that : 1) word recall capacity is notmuch amplified by an increase in the number of presented words ; 2) the analysis of response rank shows systematic effects which differentiate the two presentation conditions. Recall of 4 word lists is more complete and in better order with the oral presentation that with the visual one. In visual presentation, with 6 and 8 word lists, there is no systematic effect of rank response. On the contrary in oral presentation, the first words in the list are recalled last and the last words are recalled first. In conclusion the hypothesis of the limitation of the capacity of recall is confirmed This limitation is related to the limitation of accessible responses whatever the modalities of presentation One should introduce an estimate of the resistance of response programmes to forgetting and inter ferences at the time of recall This experiment underscores the refinement of the regulations of recall mechanisms which depend not only on stimulus frequency but also on the modality of presentation Key-words free recall recall order modality of presentation