Things we don’t normally pay attention to (from Higbee) What color is on top on a stoplight? Whose image is on a penny? Is he wearing a tie? What four words besides “In God We Trust” appear on most U.S. coins? When water goes down the drain, does it swirl clockwise or counterclockwise? What letters, if any, are missing on a telephone dial?

answers Red Lincoln, bowtie “United States of America” Counterclockwise in Northern hemisphere Q, Z

Crook & Allison (1992) Mnemonic for linking names to faces (face-name mnemonic) Series of steps for linking the name and the face Need the face and the name together to use the mnemonic (e.g., meet someone at a party, get introduced to someone at work)

steps 1. Pick an outstanding feature of the face Determine what it is about the face that stands out  that is the feature that you use Avoid hair, jewelry, glasses, i.e., things that change Something particularly strange, interesting, attractive, ugly

More steps 2. Get the name Get it by asking, someone tells you, the person tells you, etc.

More steps 3. Transform the name to a concrete image Generate a mental image (visual) that goes with the name –E.g., John  image of toilet –E.g., Mr. Carpenter  toolbox, hammer, etc. –E.g., Gloria Katz  cat

More steps Or, a word that sounds like the name (phonics) –E.g., Joan  rhymes with phone  phone –E.g., Robert  robber  mask

More steps 4. Link the image of the name to the distinctive feature –Create an interactive image of the feature and the name image

More steps 5. Review –Mentally rehearse the face/name link Need to practice to get faster and better

Variety of mnemonics Face-name mnemonics Foreign vocabulary mnemonics (in book, keyword method) Memorizing playing cards (for gambling) Number mnemonics (list of numbers) Mnemonics for particular facts (ROY G. BIV – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – colors of spectrum)

Compare mnemonic to the principles of remembering Crook & Allison (1992) face-name technique Original Principles: attention, organization, meaningfulness, association, visualization Face-name technique uses: –Attention, Meaningfulness, Association, Visualization (4 out of 5 of Higbee’s Principles)

Interactive imagery and mnemonics Visualization is common to many mnemonics –Specifically, using interactive imagery E.g., Method of Loci (textbook) –Relies heavily on interactive imagery –Memorize places (i.e., loci) –Form images of items on a list –Put each image in a separate place (interactive imagery)

Analog vs. propositional representation Analog = copy or similar to Analog representation – similar to or copy of thing you’re trying to remember (e.g., your mental image of your car is really like a mental picture) (Kosslyn) Propositional representation – description of what an object looks like (memory is really a description) (Pylyshyn, 1973)

more Take the computer screen –On the computer screen, you see pictures or shapes (of letters, icons, etc.) –But in the computer’s memory the pictures or shapes are represented in 0’s or 1’s Take the laserprinter –It can print a picture –But, the computer commands are in the form of a description

Example study (Reed, 1974) Ss given pictures to memorize; told that they would have to answer questions about the pictures at a later time

Ss given “test figure” or test picture; was test figure part of or component of original figure? Yes or No Answer = Yes However, Ss more likely To say no

Interpretation people are not able to form analog representations of the original figure; otherwise, they would be able to get the answer