Bizarre Imagery The Misremembered Mnemonic

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 42 - 53
• Main Authors: Kroll, Neal E. A, Schepeler, Eva M, Angin, Karen T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-01-1986
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Conditioning; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Imagery; Learning. Memory; Long Term Memory; Mnemonic Learning; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Recall (Learning); Short Term Memory; Words (Phonetic Units); Short term; Human; Mental imagery; Retention interval; Acquisition process; Free recall; Familiarity strangeness; Memory; Mnemonic learning; Long term; Cued recall
• ISSN: 0278-7393; 1939-1285
• DOI: 10.1037/0278-7393.12.1.42

Two experiments were performed to measure the effects of bizarre imagery and image interaction on the brief and long-term memory of word pairs. Subjects in Experiment 1 performed an incidental learning task and were tested with both free- and cued-recall tasks. Subjects in Experiment 2 performed intentional learning tasks and were tested with cued-recall tests. Because performance in the delayed tests of Experiment 1 was extremely poor, subjects in Experiment 2 were given a much more intensive training procedure. In both experiments, bizarre imagery did not improve memory more than plausible, interactive imagery. The degree of interaction in the image was a strong determinant of cued-recall performance at both retention intervals. Most subjects in Experiment 2, questioned after their cued-recall test, believed that they had remembered more bizarre than plausible pairs, even though this was clearly not the case.