Rocío Gómez-Juncal

Experience in Imagery and Imagery Vividness

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of experience in mental imagery, imagery type (normal, bizarre, or mixed), and the repetition of mental imagery formation on imagery vividness. Two experiments were carried out: Experiment 1 consisted of a sample of 152 Spanish compulsory secondary education students who were shown a list of 16 simple sentences describing normal, bizarre, or mixed normal and bizarre situations prior to rating their imagery vividness. The procedure was repeated with the same imagery after a 24-hour interval. Subjects were also asked about their experience in using mental imagery. Subjects with mental imagery experience rated imagery vividness higher than inexperienced subjects. Image vividness scores were higher after repeating imagery formation than in the first imagery vividness ratings. Mixed and bizarre imagery obtained higher imagery vividness scores than normal imagery. In Experiment 2 a sample of 146 students, of the same academic background as in Experiment 1, were shown a list of 16 complex sentences under the same experimental conditions. Significant differences in imagery vividness ratings were observed in terms of experience and repetition of imagery. Ratings were higher for experienced than inexperienced subjects, and in the second ratings following the repetition of imagery formation. No significant differences in imagery vividness ratings were observed between both experimental groups in terms of imagery type. The results are discussed in the context of previous studies, and new lines of research are proposed.

Experiencia en la mnemotecnia y aprendizaje incidental con imágenes normales y raras

This study sought to evaluate the effects of the use of imagery in immediate recollection, at the end of one day and at the end of the week, according to the type of imagery employed: no images, normal image, unusual image and mixed image. For this test, 198 subjects were selected with an average age of 14.4 years, randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups: 1) group with no mental images, 2) group which used normal mental images, 3) group which used unusual images and 4) mixed group. A set of 16 sentences was shown to the groups, each of which contained three words written in block capitals. The subjects had to indicate the relationship between the three words (in the group without any image), or the intensity of the image provoked by each sentence (groups with images). We subsequently conducted an evaluation of the recollection, recognition, false recognition, access to the sentence, the items recalled by sentence and the number of sentences completely recollected. The subjects were also questioned about their experiences in the use of the images. It was ascertained that the experience in the use of the images influenced, at the end of the day and of the week, the recollection, recognition, the number of sentences completely recalled and the access to the sentence. After a week, the groups which were shown unusual or mixed images demonstrated better results in all the dependent variables (with the exception of the items recollected by sentence) than the groups which were shown normal mental images, or no images at all.

The Importance of Image Formation Time in Image-Aided Methods for Word Memorization

The present study investigated whether the length of time subjects are allowed for image formation in image-aided word-memorization protocols influences recall. To this end, we selected 363 high-school students who were presented with a list of 24 words to be learned by the rote method, an image-aided method with normal image, or an image-aided method with bizarre image; the time allowed for image formation was 10, 20, or 40 seconds. Recall was then evaluated immediately after the test and 1 day later. Each subject participated in only 1 experimental condition. Our results indicate that both immediate and delayed free recall were significantly better in the image-aided groups than in the rote groups. Considering the image-aided groups, both immediate and delayed recall were affected by image type used and image presentation time, with recall significantly better in the 40-second group than in the other 2 groups. Significant differences were also detected between the image types.