Previous research has established that, all else being equal, pictures are remembered better than words, which is the picture superiority effect. Earlier studies found that the picture superiority effect was seen in tests of recall, cued recall, and item recognition. Later studies found that the picture superiority effect also exists in associative memory.At present, two general explanations of the picture superiority effect observed in tests of item memory have been proposed: one view emphasizes that the picture has the advantage of perceptual processing, the other point emphasizes the conceptual processing advantage of the picture. While previous studies suggest that compared with perception, conceptual processing contributes more to picture superiority effect in item memory. So will the perceptual processing advantages and conceptual processing advantages of the picture also affect the appearance of the picture advantage effect in associative memory? To solve this problem, the present study aims to adopted the associative recognition paradigm to investigate whether the level of perception and the degree of conceptual processing will affect the picture superiority effect in associative memory. In Experiment 1, we mainly discusses whether there has the picture superiority effect in associative memory when the pictures do not have a perceptual advantage under the blurred condition. During the study phase, participants were asked to remember which items were presented together, half of the participants studied clear picture and word pairs, while the other half studied blurred picture and word pairs. During the item recognition phase, participants were asked to determine whether the item had occurred during the study phase. During the associative recognition phase, participants were asked to determine whether the word pair or picture pair was intact pair or rearranged pair. For each participant in the item and the associative recognition tests, a measure of memory accuracy was calculated as the hits rate minus the false alarms rate. The results of experiment 1 showed that recognition accuracy was significantly greater for picture pairs than word pairs under the clear condition, whereas there was no reliable difference between two item types under the blurred condition. In Experiment 2, we mainly discusses the influence of conceptual processing on the picture superiority effect in associative memory under the blurred condition. During the study phase, all of the materials are blurred. Half of the participants were encouraged to form associations between the items of each pair, and the other half received the same instruction as in Experiment 1. After the study phase, we tested item memory followed by associative memory, with the same design as Experiment 1. Experiment 2 showed that recognition for picture pairs was significantly better than recognition for word pairs when participants do conceptual processing, but there was no reliable difference between two item types under the the control group. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that the reduction of perception processing level will lead to the disappearance of the picture superiority effect in associative memory, and even under the condition of lack of perceptual processing advantages, concept processing will promote the picture superiority effect in associative memory.