Allan Paivio

Dual coding theory and education.

Dual coding theory (DCT) explains human behavior and experience in terms of dynamic associative processes that operate on a rich network of modality-specific verbal and nonverbal (or imagery) representations. We first describe the underlying premises of the theory and then show how the basic DCT mechanisms can be used to model diverse educational phenomena. The research demonstrates that concreteness, imagery, and verbal associative processes play major roles in various educational domains: the representation and comprehension of knowledge, learning and memory of school material, effective instruction, individual differences, achievement motivation and test anxiety, and the learning of motor skills. DCT also has important implications for the science and practice of educational psychology — specifically, for educational research and teacher education. We show not only that DCT provides a unified explanation for diverse topics in education, but also that its mechanistic framework accommodates theories cast in terms of strategies and other high-level psychological processes. Although much additional research needs to be done, the concrete models that DCT offers for the behavior and experience of students, teachers, and educational psychologists further our understanding of educational phenomena and strengthen related pedagogical practices.

Perceptual comparisons through the mind’s eye

Four experiments tested a theory of memory and cognition which assumes that verbal and nonverbal information are processed in functionally distinct LTM systems. Subjects presented with pairs of pictures or printed names of animals and objects differing in rated real-life size were instructed to choose the conceptually larger member of each pair, the one that appeared to be farther away, or the one whose name was easier to pronounce. The following results were consistent with theoretical predictions: (1) RT to choose the larger member increased as the memory size difference decreased, for comparisons between as well as within conceptual categories; (2) memory size comparisons were faster with pictures than with words, whereas the reverse occurred for pronounceability comparisons; (3) with pictures, but not with words, size comparisons were significantly slower when real-life (memory) size relations conflicted with physical size relations than when the two were congruent; and (4) the size congruency effect was reversed for relative distance judgments of pictured pairs. These results cannot be easily explained by current verbal coding or abstract (propositional) theories of LTM representations.

Picture superiority in free recall: Imagery or dual coding?☆

Abstract Free verbal recall is generally higher for items presented as pictures than for items presented as words. Possible interpretations of this effect include differential verbal elaboration, superiority of nonverbal imagery as a memory code, and dual encoding favoring pictures. A series of experiments investigated the relative contributions of imaginal and verbal memory codes using incidental recall tasks in which the orienting task was designed to control the way items are encoded during input. Three experiments required subjects to encode words and pictures verbally, by writing or pronouncing the words or picture labels; or imaginally, by drawing or imaging the picture or object suggested by the word. Two further experiments involved a probability learning task which required no encoding reaction to pictures or words, but an analogue of imaginal and verbal coding was provided in one experiment using picture-picture, picture-word (or word-picture) and word-word repetitions. Recall tests following these manipulations consistently yielded much higher recall for pictures than for words under all conditions except when subjects imaged to words. Strong support was also found for the hypothesis that image and verbal memory codes are independent and additive in their effect on recall. In addition, the contribution of imagery appeared to be substantially higher than that of the verbal code. Thus the usual superiority of pictures in free recall is best explained by dual encoding, or a combination of image superiority and dual coding, both of which are ordinarily favored when items are presented as pictures.

Why are pictures easier to recall than words

Pictures of objects were recalled significantly better than their names on the first two of four free recall trials. Recall for the two modes did not differ in intertriai organization but striking differences occurred as a function of input serial order. Picture superiority occurred for terminal input items on Trial 1, and both terminal and early items on Trial 2. The findings are discussed in terms of verbal and nonverbal (concrete) memory codes.

Mind and its evolution : a dual coding theoretical approach

Contents: Preface. Part I: Evolved Dual-Coding Mind and Related Species. Not by Language Alone. Justification for the Theoretical Approach. Basic Principles of Dual Coding Theory. Adaptive Functions of Dual-Coding Systems. Other Representational Species. Part II: Dual Coding Theory and the Brain. Introduction to Dual Coding Theory and the Brain: A Brief History and a Brain Primer. The Multimodal Dual-Coding Brain. Adaptive Functions of Dual-Coding Brain. Brain Teasers: Common Codes and Neural Binding. Part III: Evolution of Dual-Coding Mind. Background on Evolution Issues. Animal Minds. Evolution of Language: From Naming to Association. Evolution Language: Syntax. Part IV: Peak Mind and Performance. Introduction to Expertise: A Dual Coding Perspective. Expert Performance and Knowledge. Intelligence: Toward a Dual Coding Theory. Dual Coding Theory and Creativity. Geniuses and Their Domains. Nurturing the Mind: Applications of DCT.

Abstractness, imagery, and meaningfulness in paired-associate learning

Summary Subjects were given alternate learning trials (auditory presentation of pairs) and recall trials (presentation of stimuli) on a list of paired-associates composed of concrete and abstract nouns. On the assumption that concrete nouns are superior to abstract nouns in their capacity to elicit sensory images, and that imagery can mediate the formation of an associative connection between members of a pair, it was expected that learning would be particularly facilitated with the concrete nouns as stimuli. Thus, the predicted learning difficulty of four stimulus-response combinations was as follows: concrete-concrete, concrete-abstract, abstract-concrete, and abstract-abstract, in increasing order of difficulty. Analysis of recall scores strongly supported that prediction. The words were also rated on the ease with which they arouse sensory images. As expected, the concrete nouns were consistently rated higher than abstract nouns on this attribute. Other data indicated that the concrete nouns were also higher in associative meaningfulness and auditory familiarity and that the three measured attributes of the words were substantially correlated. Several possible interpretations of the findings were considered.

COGNITIVE COMPONENTS OF PICTURE NAMING

A substantial research literature documents the effects of diverse item attributes, task conditions, and participant characteristics on the case of picture naming. The authors review what the research has revealed about 3 generally accepted stages of naming a pictured object: object identification, name activation, and response generation. They also show that dual coding theory gives a coherent and plausible account of these findings without positing amodal conceptual representations, and they identify issues and methods that may further advance the understanding of picture naming and related cognitive tasks.

A factor-analytic study of word attributes and verbal learning

Data from groups of S s were used to scale 96 nouns on 30 variables, including scores on free recall and paired-associate (PA) learning, and various semantic and associative attributes thought to be relevant in verbal-learning situations. Correlations were computed among the word attributes and the resulting matrix was factor analyzed to yield six factors. The rotated factors were interpretable as Concreteness-Imagery, Impressiveness, Familiarity, Specificity, Associative Variety, and Learning. Factor I, Concreteness-Imagery, was of particular theoretical interest in the study. Loading highest on two measures of concreteness and on three indices of a words capacity to evoke sensory images, the factor represents a dimension of meaning not previously revealed in studies of semantic structure. Furthermore, only Concreteness-Imagery had appreciable loadings on the learning variables, the loading being highest for PA learning scores when the items served as stimulus (as opposed to response) members, as predicted from the hypothesis that stimulus-evoked imagery can mediate response recall.

Concreteness and Imagery in Sentence Meaning.

Previous research has shown that Ss recognize semantic changes in sentences more readily than changes in their wording when meaning remains unchanged. The present experiment yielded the same results for concrete sentences. In the case of abstract sentences, however, changes in wording were more noticeable than semantic changes. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that concrete sentences are coded and stored primarily as nonverbal images that retain the meaning but not the wording of the sentences, whereas abstract sentences are stored primarily in their verbal form.

Extensions of the Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968) norms

The Paivio, Yuille, and Madigan (1968) norms for 925 nouns were extended in two ways. The first extension involved the collecting of a much more extensive and diverse set of properties from original ratings and other sources. Factor analysis of 32 properties identified 9 orthogonal factors and demonstrated both the redundancy among various measures and the tendency for some attributes (e.g., age of acquisition) to load on multiple factors. The second extension collected basic ratings of imagery, familiarity, and a new age of acquisition measure for a larger pool of 2,311 words, including parts of speech other than nouns. The analysis of these ratings and supplementary statistics computed for the words (e.g., number of syllables, Kucera-Francis frequency) demonstrated again the relative independence of various measures and the importance of obtaining diverse properties for such norms. Implications and directions for future research are considered. The full set of new norms may be downloaded fromwww.psychonomic.org/archive/.