PSYC 213 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Picture Plane, Descriptive Knowledge, Symmetry In Biology
28 May 2018
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Chapter 7: Imagery
Memory & Imagery
• Time space: visual experience of time units such as days or months occupy a spatial location
outside the body
• Number forms: automatically generated images of numbers in various spatial layouts external
to an individual
Paivio's Dual Coding Theory
• Dual coding theory: there are 2 ways of representing events; verbal & non-verbal
o Each of which has its own code
o Which system is used depends on nature of information
• Event can be described in words using the verbal system
o Or can be imagined without words using non-verbal system
• Information arrives either as verbal or non-verbal to sensory systems
o Logogens: units that make up verbal system
• Contain information underlying use of particular word
o Imagens: units that make up non-verbal system
• Contain information to generate mental images
• A variety of related mental images can be generated from imagens
o i.e. can imagine a group of people, one person from group, nose of one person, etc.
o Imagens operate synchronously --parts they contain are available for inspection at the
same time
• On the other hand, logogens operate sequentially
o i.e. words in a sentence come one after the other
• The two systems interact; a verbal description of something can elicit an image of it, and an
image can in turn elicit a description'
• Imagery: ease with which something such as a word can elicit a mental image (mental picture
or sound)
o Paivio
• Words that easily elicit a mental image (high degree of imagery) = concrete
o i.e. table
o Words that do not elicit image easily = abstract
o i.e. purpose
• Concreteness is the degree to which a word refers to something that can be experienced by
the senses
o Heard, felt, smelled, tasted, etc.
• Participants given words and have to rate them on 7-point scales based on low/high imagery
and low/high concreteness
o Imagery & concreteness very highly correlated
o Argued to be two aspects of the same process as experience of concrete events
saturated with images
• There are also internal, emotional sources of imagery
o Can be abstract and still elicit vivid mental imagery (i.e. love, pain)
Research Related to Dual-Coding Theory
• Paired-associated learning task (Paivio)
• 4 groups each learned 16 pairs of words
o Each group learned different kind of stimulus-response pair
o 2 concrete words, first concrete & second abstract, first abstract & second concrete or 2
abstract words
• Listened to list of words, then given first (stimulus) word and asked to write down the second
o Perform better when first word is concrete
• Concrete word can be coded by both verbal & non-verbal systems
o Whereas abstract words coded only by verbal system since not likely to elicit an image
• Thus concrete word more easily available to memory since coded in two systems
• Concrete words serve as better cues for second word than abstract words since associated
with mental image
Dual Coding Theory & Brain
• Left hemisphere associated with analytic side (verbal, rational)
o Right hemisphere with holistic side (non-verbal, intuitive)
• Left & right hemispheres theory: left hemisphere controls speech and is better at processing
verbal material
o Better in perceptual recognition, episodic memory & comprehension tasks
o Right is better at non-verbal tasks such as face identification and discrimination, memory
for faces and spatial patterns, etc.
• Hypothesized that imagery is mainly localized to right hemisphere and verbal
representations in left hemisphere
o Challenged by fMRI studies
• Concrete words trigger greater activity in the right hemisphere than abstract words
o Hypothesis not supported by studies
• Participants shown concrete words, abstract words and pseudo words (words in which 1-2
letters randomly replaced)
o Participants given lexical decision task --indicate by manual response whether or not
each stimulus was a word
o Compared brain activity (fMRI)
• Abstract & concrete words elicit different patterns of activity in left hemisphere, but concrete
words did not elicit heightened activity in right hemisphere
o Did not support hypothesis that concrete words elicit greater right-hemispheric activation
than abstract words
o Imagery thus supported by both hemispheres (complex bilateral system)
Imagery & Mnemonics
• Mnemonic techniques: processes used to aid memory
• Method of loci: mnemonic technique based on places (loci) & images
o Establish a cognitive map of a large building, and place in each of its various loci an
image representing things to be remembered
• Recall later done through mentally strolling through the building and collecting
images
o Use distinctive, or bizarre images
o Shown to be effective --i.e. to remember grocery list
• Interrelated items that form units are easier to remember than individual items
o Imagery can be used to organize items into meaningful units
o Make it easier to remember
• But mental images can also be used to make information distinctive
o Distinctiveness is an important memory aid
o Distinctiveness hypothesis: the more distinctive the item is, the easier it is to recall
Imagery & Distinctiveness
• Effect of bizarreness of mental images used for memory is controversial
• Seems like people remember bizarre items better when they occur along with common items
o Remember bizarre items better from a list of both weird and normal items
o But has recall no better than normal if list is entirely made of bizarre items
• Von Restorff effect: if one item in a set is different from the others, then it is more likely to be
recalled
o Difference between a relative property
Humour & Distinctiveness
• Humour has similar effect to bizarreness
• Participants shown list of cartoons and asked to give brief description of each afterwards
o Report more accurate descriptions of humorous items
o But no better if all items were humorous
o Humorous items become memorable only when contrasted to non-humorous items (both
literal & weird)
• Bizarreness is less memorable than humour
o Humour is strong aid to memory
Problem of Distinctiveness
• Often store valuable things in a special place, but then when want to recover the item, do not
remember where put it
o Special-place strategy
• Similar to method of loci, but there are important differences
• Special place to store an item is an unlikely place in which to find it
• Participants given sentences describing locations of objects and rated them for likelihood
(how likely to find that object in this location?)
o Other participants rated sentences for memorability (how memorable would that
location be as a place to store that item?)
o Last group told to imagine putting item in described location, and then rate each location
for memorability
• Then all groups given name of item and asked to recall its location
o Item-location pair rated as low in likelihood = remembered less well than pairs rated high
in likelihood, regardless of rated memorability
• No matter how memorable think location will be, remember it less well if unlikely than if likely
