Effects of an imagery mnemonic on second language recall and comprehension.

24 university students with some background in French as a 2nd language used an imagery-based hook mnemonic and rote rehearsal to learn sets of French words. The hook technique involved associating the new items with an overlearned series of French stimulus words and images, which could be retrieved during recall using a number code. The rote condition involved the technique without imagery. The recall items, presented with their translation equivalents on the study trial, varied in familiarity and concreteness. Recall following 1 study trial was much higher for words learned by imagery than by rote. This effect was slightly qualified by familiarity and concreteness, which also affected recall. Translation tests given before and (unexpectedly) 1 day after the recall experiment showed that correct translations of relatively unfamiliar items increased more after study by imagery than after rote study. Thus, imagery simultaneously facilitated both recall and comprehension. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Incidental learning, noun imagery-concreteness and direction of associations in paired-associate learning.

Examined the effect of imagery-concreteness pairs in incidental learning. In Exp. I with 96 undergraduates, intentional learning was superior to incidental learning. Recall of concrete-concrete noun pairs was significantly better than recall of all other pairs, while concrete-abstract and abstract-concrete nouns did not differ from each other but did differ from abstract-abstract recall. In Exp. II with 64 Ss, instructions to use imagery during the orientation task resulted in similar performance for incidental and intentional learning Ss. Concreteness yielded a greater effect on the stimulus side than on the response side of pairs, particularly for stimulus-response recall. Associative directionality had no reliable effects in either experiment. Results are discussed in terms of A. Paivio's conceptual peg hypothesis and 2-process theory of verbal and imaginal memory. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concreteness of relational effects on recall of adjective–noun pairs.

Studied the effects of concreteness and relatedness of adjective–noun pairs on free recall, cued recall, and memory integration. The authors report on 2 experiments in which Ss read phrases or sentences containing adjective–noun pairs that vary in rated concreteness and intrapair relatedness. In Exp 1 normative ratings on imagery and relatedness were provided by 23 graduate and 20 undergraduate students. 64 undergraduates participated in the memory experiment. Exp 2 extended Exp 1 by using complete sentences rather than adjective–noun word pairs. 72 undergraduates volunteered to participate in the memory experiment and a separate group of 14 volunteered to participate in a sentence rating task. Consistent with predictions from dual coding theory and prior results with noun–noun pairs, both experiments showed that the effects of concreteness were strong and independent of relatedness in free recall and cued recall. The 2 attributes also had independent (additive) effects on integrative memory as measured by conditionalized free recall of pairs. Integration as measured by the increment from free to cued recall occurred consistently only when pairs were high in both concreteness and relatedness. Relatedness, adjective imagery, and noun imagery ratings, along with word frequencies for adjectives and nouns, and sentences with relatedness ratings are appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery and integration in the recall of words.

Conducted 2 experiments with Canadian males (N = 71) to test the previous suggestion that the reason for imaginal facilitation of memory performance is that images aroused by discrete verbal stimuli can be integrated into complex images, with the result that (a) storage capacity requirements are reduced and (b) recall of 1 component of the image leads to effective redintegration of the rest. Hypothesis (b) was supported by the observation that cued recall of concrete-noun pairs was enhanced more under integrative than under separate imagery instructions. Hypothesis (a) was supported by the observation that, for word-number lists, recall of concrete words exceeded recall of abstract words, but not at the expense of the digits. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of separate and interactive imagery on the recall of movement patterns.

Contrasted separate imagery instructions with interactive imagery instructions on memory for movement patterns. 48 undergraduates were presented pairs of movement patterns and were instructed to form separate images of each pattern or to form interactive images linking the patterns together. Cued recall performance and the organization of free recall was enhanced following interactive imagery instructions compared with separate imagery instructions. Total free recall, however, was similar for interactive and separate imagery. The advantage of interactive imagery over separate imagery in cued recall was attenuated when Ss were given instructions that imposed restrictions on the formation of their interactive images. Several explanations of the memorial consequences of imagery instructions are considered in light of these results, including I. Begg's (see record 1983-04913-001) organization-redintegration account of imagery instructions. (French abstract) (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery and verbal associative latencies as a function of imagery ability.

Examines RTs of Ss high or low in imagery ability under instructions to elicit a verbal associate or arouse an image to concrete and abstract noun stimuli. 16 high and 14 low imagers were selected from a sample of 77 volunteer undergraduates. Latencies were significantly shorter for high than low imagers, for concrete than abstract words, and for verbal than imagery instructions. 1 interaction showed that imagery latencies were shorter to concrete than to abstract stimuli, whereas the latencies of verbal associations did not differ for the 2 types of words; another revealed that the relative superiority of high over low imagers in reaction speed was greater when the stimuli were abstract. Correlational data suggest that verbal associations may be mediated by both verbal and imaginal processes, thus favoring high imagers in both instruction conditions, and that self-reports of imagery ability can reliably predict imaginal behavior. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An historicodevelopmental aspect of imagery.

Examined the possibility that there are similarities between the historical and individual processes of language development. Based on an extrapolation of A. Paivio's (1971) theory of language acquisition, it was predicted that the earlier a word enters the language, the higher its imagery value should be. 877 nouns with precise dates of entry listed in the Oxford English Dictionary were scored according to word length (long or short) and noun type (simple or derived). An analysis of these nouns yielded results that were generally consistent with the hypothesis, since word length, frequency, and imagery were all significantly related to date of entry. However, a significant interaction between word length and imagery existed only for short words. Long words tended to be low in imagery regardless of their date of entry, while short words were higher in imagery the older they were. (French abstract) (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative learning of abstract and concrete nouns and their subject-drawn pictorial representations.

Conducted 2 experiments to examine undergraduates' associative learning and pictorial representations of 48 concrete and 48 abstract noun pairs. In Exp. I, 24 Ss drew their own pictures of each noun. In Exp. II, another 24 Ss chose S-drawings that best represented their subjective meaning of the word referents. These Ss also received pretraining in labelling the S-drawings. Results from both experiments show that recall of noun pairs was superior to recall of S-drawn picture pairs. These findings conflict with the literature on picture and word paired-associate learning. In addition, concreteness of items facilitated recall. In Exp. I, concrete S-drawings were significantly better retrieval cues than abstract S-drawings. Results are discussed in terms of Pavio's theory of verbal and imagery processes of memory. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verb imagery and noun phrase concreteness in the recognition and recall of sentences.

Examined the role of verb imagery and noun phrase concreteness in determining sentence imagery and memory in 2 experiments with a total of 111 male and 17 female university students. Semantic changes in sentences were recognized more often if the noun phrases were concrete rather than abstract. Free recall of sentences was affected similarly by phrase concreteness. Verb imagery, however, had no effect on either recognition or recall performance. Analysis of recall by type of word indicated that organization of recall centered upon the nouns. Implications of these results for the hypothesis of imaginal coding of concrete sentence meaning are discussed. (French summary) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in memory as a function of imagery processing.

The effects of aging on imagery production and use (following the learning of concrete and abstract words) and their relations to subsequent memory performance were explored in 2 experiments. Both experiments demonstrated better free recall of concrete than of abstract words (the concreteness effect). Exp 1 showed this superiority to be greater for young Ss only under explicit imagery instructions. Exp 2 revealed that the advantage of concrete over abstract words reflects the use of differential imagery production. The results are discussed in terms of age differences in imagery utilization and the effects of visual processing on recall. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noun and adjective imagery and order in paired-associate learning by French and English subjects.

Varied rated noun imagery (I), rated adjective I, and noun-adjective order in a paired-associate (PA) learning task. 98 10th graders learned 2 PA lists, 1 with noun-adjective (N-A) pairs and 1 with adjective-noun (A-N) pairs. Within each list rated I of both nouns and adjectives was varied factorially. Both English- and French-speaking Ss learned the lists in their own languages. Results support the predictions from an hypothesis based on mediating imagery. N-A recall was superior to A-N recall for all combinations of word I, except when nouns were low and adjectives high in I. In the latter case, A-N recall was higher. This pattern was the same for both English- and French-speaking Ss. Results are interpreted as further evidence of the important role played by imagery in verbal learning. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pupillary dilation and mediation processes during paired-associate learning.

Describes 2 experiments with 54 undergraduates in which pupillary activity was continuously photographed during mediator-formation and paired-associate (PA) learning tasks involving nouns as items. Abstractness-concreteness of the nouns and mediation instructions (imagery, verbal, or none) were varied. The magnitude and latency of pupillary dilation as well as task performance were measured. The PA recall data confirm previous findings in showing strong positive effects of concreteness, especially as a stimulus variable. Learning was generally best under the imagery mediation set, its superiority over the verbal mediation condition being greatest in the case of pairs with abstract stimulus members. Pupil size during learning was largest when no mediation instructions were given and when stimulus members were abstract, supporting an interpretation of pupillary dilation as an index of cognitive task difficulty. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further comparison of representational and transformational prose-learning imagery.

120 8th graders were asked to read fictitious passages describing the accomplishments of famous people. Two types of visual imagery instructions (representational and transformational) were manipulated within 2 passage types (name and occupation), along with no-strategy control instructions for each passage type. Data show that, consistent with theoretical predictions, transformational imagery instructions were uniquely effective on the difficult-to-remember name passages, but not on the more easily represented occupation passages. Representational imagery instructions were not facilitative on either passage type. Results support the 2nd author's (1981) distinction among prose-learning imagery functions and suggest that transformational imagery substantially improves recall of difficult-to-remember factual information, while explicit imagery instructions are not as critical for passages that contain directly codable information. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imagery limitations in totally congenitally blind subjects.

Research on totally blind subjects performing tasks that involve visual imagery has often shown that they do not behave differently from matched sighted subjects, even when their blindness is congenital. If visual imagery is based on visual perception, such tasks may not require visual imagery. In the present article visual images are considered as representations maintaining some properties of visible objects and constructed on the basis of information from various sources. Owing to the absence of visual experience, the limitations of such representations are explored in a series of experiments requiring memorization of single nouns, pairs of nouns, or triplets of nouns associated with a cue noun. Recall by blind subjects was impaired when multiple interactive images (with noun pairs and triplets) are formed. The poorer recall of blind subjects reflected also loss of order information. Recall was better for both groups with locative noun cues and high-imagery targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's noun-pair retention: Assessment of pictorial elaboration and bizarreness effects.

Three experiments assessed the effects of nonbizarre vs bizarre pictorial elaboration on the paired-associate retention of noun pairs. 192 5- and 7-yr-olds served as Ss in the 1st 2 experiments and learned a list of common noun pairs by the study–test paired-associate method. Exp I provided a between-Ss analysis of bizarre elaboration effects and Exp II a within-Ss analysis. Results indicate that both nonbizarre and bizarre pictorial elaboration facilitated performance relative to a standard presentation condition. No consistent difference between the 2 types of elaboration was observed. Exp III with 20 2nd graders assessed the effects of nonbizarre vs bizarre pictoral elaboration on the 7-day retention of noun pairs. Results indicate that the forgetting of pairs encoded under the different types of elaboration (nonbizarre vs bizarre) was equivalent. The influence of relational appropriateness on pictorial elaboration effects is discussed, and preliminary evidence on this issue is reported. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in the inhibition of recall as a function of retrieval cues.

Asked 64 Ss from 3 age ranges (18–37, 50–64, and 65–88 yrs) to look at word lists in which the words were either categorized under headings or additionally subcategorized. Ss were then asked to recall the words when (a) the category name was given, or (b) the category name and half of the list words were given. Words recalled decreased with increasing age in all conditions. The youngest age group recalled more words when the category name only was used as a recall cue. There were no significant differences between the 2 recall conditions for the other age groups, suggesting that they were not as susceptible to recall inhibition as the younger adults. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Concreteness effects on memory: When and why?

Two experiments with 194 university students studied the effects of concreteness and relatedness of noun pairs on free recall, cued recall, and memory integration. Dual-coding theory (DCT) implies that concreteness and relatedness should have independent and additive effects on memory performance, whereas relational-distinctiveness processing theory implies that the 2 variables should interact. Their effects proved to be statistically independent in cued-recall and memory integration tests in both studies. In free recall, the effects were independent in Exp 1 and interactive over subjects, but not over items in Exp 2. Results were most consistent with the DCT and, regarding integration, with the hypothesis that strong verbal relations are necessary for integrative recall of abstract pairs, whereas high imagery is sufficient for integrative recall of concrete pairs. The hypothesis resolves a long-standing issue concerning memory integration of abstract language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multinomial modeling analysis of the mnemonic benefits of bizarre imagery

A series of experiments was conducted to explore the cognitive processes that mediate the bizarreness effect, that is, the finding that bizarre or unusual imagery is recalled better than common imagery. In all experiments, subjects were presented with noun pairs that were embedded within bizarre or common sentences in a mixed-list design. None of the experiments produced a bizarreness effect for cued recall; however, for two of the experiments, the bizarre noun pairs were remembered significantly better than the common pairs for free recall. To determine if these differences were due to the storage or retrieval of the items, a multinomial model for the analysis of imagery mediation in paired-associate learning was developed and applied to the data from the experiments. The model revealed that bizarre sentences benefited the retrieval of the noun pairs but not their storage within memory. The empirical and modeling results are discussed relative to previous findings and theories on the bizarreness effect.     

Age, pacing, and imagery in paired-associate learning.

18 males and 36 females in each of 2 age groups (mean ages, 29 and 69 yrs) learned highly concrete noun pairs. Anticipation and presentation intervals were manipulated (2 vs 6 sec), and there were no, E-provided, or self-generated imagery instructions. Sex of S and presentation interval had no significant effects. Both age groups benefited from imagery instructions, especially self-generated imagery. With self-generated imagery and the longer anticipation time, the old performed as well as the young; with no-imagery instructions and the shorter anticipation time, the young performed as poorly as the old. With the other combinations of instructions and intervals, the young outperformed the old. Thus, the young needed the longer anticipation time only in the no-imagery condition, but the old needed it to benefit the imagery intructions. It is concluded that the old are as capable as the young of generating and using imagery when so instructed, although the old require a longer retrieval time. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bizarre imagery as an effective memory aid: The importance of distinctiveness.

Five experiments with 304 undergraduates investigated the effects of imagery type (bizarre or common) on memory of word triplets. In Exp I bizarre imagery increased recall when imagery type was manipulated in a within-list design but not when imagery type was manipulated in a between-list design. Results of Exp II show that this effect occurred with imagery processing instructions and not with semantic processing instructions. Exp III indicated that bizarre imagery facilitated recall in a within-list design for both self-paced and experimenter-paced presentations of the stimuli, and Exp IV, the pattern of effects of bizarre imagery on memory (in a within-list design) did not parallel the effects of presentation rate on memory. Data from Exps I through IV are inconsistent with an attentional explanation of bizarre imagery effects. In Exp V, when several types of additional learning were interpolated between initial imaginal processing and testing, bizarre imagery produced better recall with a between-list manipulation, but only when the additional learning involved common imagery. In addition to delineating the conditions under which bizarre imagery improves recall, overall findings suggest that distinctiveness may underlie the bizarreness effect. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)