Transfer Appropriate Processing Morris, Bransford, & Franks, 1977

Visual Images “image” – mental representation that is very similar in nature to the actual object or idea that is being represented E.g., forming an image of the front door of your home (visual image) E.g., imagine the sound of nails scraping on the chalkboard (auditory image)

Use of visual images People naturally use visual images to perform mental tasks Example on p. 176 (fig. 7.1) shows a task in which people naturally use a visual image to complete the task

Visual Images and Memory Principles of Remembering (Higbee, 1988) –Tricks or rules for having items “stick” in LTM –Attention –Association –Meaningfulness –Organization –Visualization

Attention Must first pay attention to something to remember it (or focus) –Things we don’t remember well because we never pay attention Red light on traffic signal – top or bottom? Lincoln’s image on a penny – left or right? Toilet flush – circle clockwise or counterclockwise?

Association Find connections between target material (what you’re trying to learn) and what is already in memory –E.g., measure association value of a stimulus –CARICATURE (list items from memory related) Cartoon Exaggeration Street vendors humorists

Using association Find information in memory that is related to (i.e., associated with) the target material Help improve memory

meaningfulness Seek meaning in target material Goal is memorize a list of letters S W G F B I P A W Can become S W G FBI PAW Reduced to 5 items instead of nine Aids memory

organization Arranging or rearranging target material to find patterns E.g., arranging your flashcards into piles based on similar concepts  aid your memory Look for tables of contents, lists, hierarchy, groups, etc.

visualization Form a visual image –CHAIR  forming a visual image will improve your memory for that word –MATH  –EMOTION  –ABSTRACT  harder to visualize –RANDOM  harder to visualize

Concrete vs. abstract words Concrete words are easier to form images of Abstract words are harder The “concrete-abstract dimension” (Paivio, 1969) Imageability  your ability to form an image of a particular word or object Concrete words remembered better than abstract words

Interactive image Compound image that is comprised of two or more images interacting with each other Interactive images lead to superior memory –BUN –SHIRT –E.g., hamburger bun with ketchup dripping off onto a shirt; animated hot dog wearing a shirt

Mnemonic (memory trick) System that combines as many of the principles for memorizing some target material Prefix “mne” = memory