Effectiveness of different mnemonic strategies on recall.

EFFECTIVENESS ON DIFFERENT MNEMONIC STRATEGIES ON RECALL

2007

ABSTRACT

Studies showed that different mnemonic strategies such as the Loci Method and Imagery Method helped in recalling stored memories . Another study pointed out that effectiveness of aid recall also depends on a person 's creativity in using the methods strategies . This experiment will determine if the Loci Method is more effective in aid recall than the Imagery Method . A recorded 671 participants divided into two groups will undergo tests on the said methods to determine which is more effective in terms

of memory recall

INTRODUCTION

A person 's memory is a cognitive process that is necessary for everyday functioning . It has the power to encode , store and retrieve information that will help the person in leading a productive life . The effective use of mnemonics strategies will aid a person to use structured knowledge that is already stored , recall stored information or translate abstract information into meaningful images

The use of interactive images (Method of Imagery ) wherein a person form visual images for items and then picture interactions among them and the Method of Loci wherein items are associated with distinctive landmarks through visualization of items along a familiar path , are said to be effective in improving recall

Roediger (1980 , Weinstein , et al (1981 ) and Carlson , et al (1976 conducted experiments that resulted in proving that different methodologies in mnemonics such as the imagery and loci methods are effective in aiding recall . Lorayne and Lucas (1974 ) however , qualified that these methods are dependent on the person 's ability in developing a system appropriate for a particular goal . Weiten 's (2005 ) book also discussed the interconnectedness of a person 's cultural heritage , environment and sociohistorical contexts that will affect on the effectiveness of the experiment to be conducted

The study aims to (1 ) provide an introduction and learn the fundamentals of the experimental method , specifically the Loci and Imagery Methods (2 ) gain an understanding of the key steps in designing a study and (3 provide an overview of the background for the current study on the effectiveness of different mnemonic strategies on recall

The study will prove that the use of Loci Method is more effective than the Imagery Method as a mnemonic strategy in aiding recall

METHOD

The experimental method was used to identify the causal relationships between two variables . A variable is a measurement that can be manipulated and can change its value into another variable , the relationship of which is called causal . The independent variable is the variable that caused change (i .e , used of loci or imagery methods ) and the dependent variable is the effect of change (i .e , increased number of recall . The method evaluates whether manipulation of the independent variable will cause a change in the dependent variable

Participants

The participants were 671 first year psychology students and were divided into two groups : those participating under the method of Loci group with 339 members , and those under the imagery group with 332 members . The age range varied between 17 years old and above

Apparatus

The apparatus used for the experiment were a word list of 15 words , a watch and writing materials

Procedure

The experiment was conducted to investigate which of the two mnemonic strategies : the method of loci or the imagery method leads to better recall . This will be tested by the use of the word list and the instructions given to the participants . The 671 1st year students were divided into 2 major groups that will undergo the experiment using the loci and imagery methods . Each of the two groups chose from among them one experimenter that were instructed by the tutor on how to conduct the experiment

For the method of loci , the experimenters were instructed to quietly provide the following instructions to the participants on how to remember the items on the list . The instructions were to (1 ) inform the participants that some words will be read (2 ) the participants must remember the words by placing each word along different locations on a regular path that they take such as the path they took from home to the university and place different items along different spots in the path (3 ) the experimenter will ask the group to remember as many words as they can later then provided a copy of the list of words

For the imagery method , the experimenters read out some words and informed the students that they should remember the words by forming an image of each word such as when the experimenter called out the word apple , the participants should think what an apple looked like and vice versa . Later , the words were recalled from the participants

All experimenters read out the list of words at a rate of four seconds to their designated group . Afterwards , the participants were given 2 minutes to write down the words that they recalled . Results were collected , corrected , tallied , recorded and collated by the experimenters without identifying the participants by name . The collated data were scored and analyzed

RESULTS

The data were collected based on the conditions of using the loci and imagery methods . The raw data were collected from the 2 groups and then tabulated as a whole

Table 1

Mean Recall Scores for the Method of Loci and the Imagery Method Groups

Group Method of Loci 3061 9 .03

Imagery 3236 9 .75 Table 1 showed that the group under the method of loci got a mean score of 9 .03 , 0 .45 lower than the group under the method of imagery which got a mean score of 9 .75

DISCUSSION

The hypothesis that the Method of Loci mnemonic strategy would be more effective in recall was not supported . This is because participants who used the Imagery Method recalled more words than those who used the method of Loci strategy

The two methods belonged to a variety of mnemonic systems that have been developed for aiding recall . Studies that were conducted to test the system 's effectiveness resulted in the knowledge that by linking items to some imaginal representation , recall will be improved . The use of Loci method therefore , will be more effective than the Imagery Method because of its system of not only converting an item into an image but also putting it at some salient location along the path

The result of the experiment however , was different from Roediger 's (567 ) article stating that the loci method provides good retrieval cues through the number-rhyme scheme or the series of locations and that the recall under the Loci Method was generally superior to the Imagery method

The reason for this might be due to what Lorayne and Lucas (1974 ) stated that the various methods used for efficiently remembering tasks and situations will still depend on the person 's creativity in developing a system appropriate for a particular purpose . This might be one of the reasons why the Imagery group fared better than the group that used the Loci method . The result of the experiment will also depend on the creativity and ability of the participants to use the method effectively . This only proved Weiten 's (2005 ) idea that heredity and the environment , cultural heritage , subjectivity of experience and sociohistorical contexts are all interconnected . The effectiveness of the methods used for aiding recall will also depend on the person 's psychological make-up and readiness to utilize the method strategies that were presented in the experiment

Studies on improving recall through the Loci Method was also discussed by Weinstein , et al (1981 ) wherein it was stated that training which include practice and experimenter-provided feedback , may result in significantly better performance on a serial recall task . The provider of instruction has also a significant role to play in ensuring that procedures and instructions were delivered clearly to the participants as much as the readiness of the participants to undergo the experiment

Some limitations that were noticeable were the unequal distribution of the two groups , with the Method of Loci Group having seven more participants than that of the group under the Imagery Method . The two major groups were supposed to be divided into equal sub-groups that will undergo the experiment . The result may have been affected by this inequality . Furthermore , the test was given only once , providing lesser opportunity for both groups to present a more concrete result

However , the test showed that both methods , Loci and Imagery , could be utilized in aiding recall . This was proven by Roediger (1980 ) where he made used of the methods of loci , imagery , the link method and the peg system in ing recall as well as Carlson , et al (1976 ) in their study entitled , Spontaneous Use of Mnemonics and Grade Point Average where investigations showed that the method of Loci is an effective mnemonic device that improved recall

REFERENCES

Aiman , Lata . Memory . Copyright and Date unknown

Lorayne , H , and Lucas , J . The Memory Book . New York : Stein and Day 1974

Roediger III , Henry L . The Effectiveness of Four Mnemonics in ing Recall . Journal

of Experimental Psychology : Human Learning and Memory , 1980 , Vol . 6 No . 5

558-567

Weinstein , Claire , Cubberly , Walter E , Wicker , Frank W , Underwood Vicki L , Roney

Lynn K , and Duty , David C . Training Versus Instruction in the Acquisition of

Cognitive Learning Stratgies . Contemporary Educational Psychology , 1981 159-

166

Weiten , Wayne (2005 . Memory . Psychology : Themes and Variations . 6th edition , pp

192-221 . Belmont , CA , USA : Wadsworth /Thomson Learning

Aiman , Lata . Memory . Copyright and Date unknown

Lorayne , H , and Lucas , J . The Memory Book . New York : Stein and Day 1974

Weiten , Wayne (2005 . Memory . Psychology : Themes and Variations . 6th edition , pp . 192-221 . Belmont , CA , USA : Wadsworth /Thomson Learning

Roediger III , Henry L . The Effectiveness of Four Mnemonics in ing Recall . Journal of Experimental Psychology : Human Learning and Memory 1980 , Vol . 6 , No . 5 , 558-567

Roediger III , Henry L . Ibid

Lorayne , H , and Lucas , J . Ibid

Weiten , Wayne (2005 . Ibid

Weinstein , Claire , Cubberly , Walter E , Wicker , Frank W , Underwood Vicki L , Roney , Lynn K , and Duty , David C . Training Versus Instruction in the Acquisition of Cognitive Learning Stratgies . Contemporary Educational Psychology , 1981 , 159-166

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