A comparison of four mnemonic scaffolds

Paper: Kluger, F. E., Oladimeji, D. M., Tan, Y., Brown, N. R., & Caplan, J. B. (2022). Mnemonic scaffolds vary in effectiveness for serial recall. Memory (Hove, England), 1–26. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2022.2052322.

Poster: Kluger, F. E., Oladimeji, D. M., Tan, Y., Brown, N. R., and Caplan, J. B. (November 2020). Mnemonic Scaffolds for Serial Recall. Poster presented at Virtual Psychonomics 2020 Annual Meeting

Background

Most research on mnemonic techniques is limited to the Method of Loci, and there are hardly any studies on techniques that are not based on visuospatial memories. This study is the first to systematically compare alternative mnemonic scaffolds with the Method of Loci. We conducted two Experiments. In Experiment 1, we showed that the Body Method is as effective as the Method of Loci. In Experiment 2, we showed that interaction with one's own body is not crucial for the success of the Body Method.

Infobox: Mnemonic scaffolds
Infobox: Body Method

Goals & Main Research Questions

The goals of this study are to:

  • compare previously unexplored mnemonic scaffolds with the Method of Loci.
  • investigate whether visual imagery and body awareness influence the effectiveness of these mnemonic techniques.
  • find out if the effectiveness of the Body Method is based on interaction with one's own body.

The main research questions of Experiment 1 are:

  • Are autobiographical stories, one's own body, and routine activities suitable as mnemonic scaffolds? 
  • Do visual imagery and body awareness influence the effectiveness of these mnemonic scaffolds? 

The main research question from Experiment 2 is: 

  • Does the interaction with one's own body contribute to the effectiveness of the Body Method?
EXPERIMENT 1: Comparison of different mnemonic scaffolds

Methods

226 students memorized 10 lists of 10 words each with their assigned strategy. 

4 memory strategies were compared, differing in the mnemonic scaffolds used: 

  1. Body Method
    • 10 body parts from the feet up
  2. Method of Loci,
    • 10 places or objects along a known route
  3. Autobiographical Method
    • a story (for example, the first day of school or a vacation trip) from one's own life split up into 10 sentences 
  4. Activity Method
    • a routine activity (for example brushing your teeth) split up into 10 steps

In addition, there was a control group that did not use any memory strategy. Participants' imaginative ability and body perception were measured with various questionnaires and tests.

Results

The Body Method and the Method of Loci resulted in an equal increase in memory performance and were more effective than the other mnemonic scaffolds.

In addition to the Body Method and the Method of Loci, the participants were also able to significantly increase their memory performance with the Autobiographical Method. 

Memory performance improvement with the Routine Activities Method was the lowest. 

There was no correlation between participants' imagery ability and body awareness and the effectiveness of the mnemonic scaffolds. 

EXPERIMENT 2: Comparison of different variants of the Body Method

Methods

152 students memorized 8 lists of 10 words each with different variations of the Body Method.   

The variations were:

  1. In the first variation, participants placed a sticker on the body part they were to associate with the word whenever a typed body part appeared on the screen along with a word. 
  2. In the second variation, participants stuck a sticker on the table whenever a typed body part appeared on the screen along with a word. 
  3. In the third variation, participants did not interact with their body parts and received the same instructions as the Body Group in Experiment 1. 

In addition, there was a control group that did not use any memory strategy.

Results

Contrary to expectations, it was not the first group that showed the greatest memory performance, but the second group that stuck the stickers on the table. However, the difference was minimal and not significant. Overall, all variants of the Body Method increased memory performance equally and showed a clear advantage compared to the control group. Thus, it makes no difference for the success of the Body Method whether one actively involves one's body parts method or sits still.

Relevance

This study has shown that the Method of Loci is not special among different mnemonic scaffolds, and that the Body Method, in particular, is an alternative. 

Comparison of different memory scaffolds has shown that it helps memory if the anchors come in a fixed order, as is the case with the Method of Loci and the Body Method. 

Insignificant for success are mental navigation, body perception, and visual imagery. 

 

The anonymized data set of the study is hier at OSF.

The scientific publication of the study will be made available soon. hier

Poster

Here you can see the original poster

Mnemonic-Scaffolds-Psychonomics-2020-2-1

The Method of Loci, also called mind palace or route method found its origin according to traditions with the ancient Greek philosopher Simonides of Keos in the 5th century before Christ.

In this method, a familiar environment serves as a mnemonic scaffold. Study items are linked to locations along a route. When studying with this Method, one imagines placing study items at certain places along this route. When remembering the study items, one "rewalks" the same route mentally and "collects" the study items along the way. It has been shown that in younger adults the Method of Loci increases memory performance significantly already after reading brief instructions on how to use it. For older people, the Method of Loci is less suitable, which is why we are investigating alternative methods such as the Body Method and the Autobiographical Method.

A mnemonic scaffold is a structure of already known information that serves as a linking basis for new information by providing anchors in a fixed sequence. During learning, new study items are linked to these anchors. When remembering the study items, one recalls the anchors in the same order, which serve as reminders for the linked study items. 


The best-known mnemonic scaffold is a familiar environment in which visuospatial memories of places or objects along a familiar route serve as anchors, as is the case with the Method of Loci, also called Mind Palace or Route Method. But also other structures of already known information in a fixed order, such as body parts or autobiographical stories, can serve as mnemonic scaffolds.

The Body Method is a mnemonic strategy in which one mentally links study items with body parts in a fixed sequence. One's own body thus serves as a mnemonic scaffold.