C7:
Mental Representations: Pictures vs. Words
Pictures
Concrete and spatial information
Analogous to what they represent
Words
Abstract and categorical information
Symbolic of what they represent
Mental Imagery
Internal representation of items that are not currently being sensed
May involve any of the sensory modalities
Individual differences in creating and manipulating mental images
Use of mental images can help to improve memory
Dual-Code Theory
Paivio (1971)
Use of two codes to represent information
Analogue (pictorial) codes → store information as mental pictures similar to the actual object
Symbolic (verbal) codes → store information as words, symbols, or numbers
Two codes are linked
Visual Codes Processed Differently from Symbolic Codes
Each type of code is affected by different manipulations
Visual interferes with spatial
Verbal interfere with spoken
Sequence matters more for words, not so much for images
Evidence for Dual-Code Theory
Brooks (1968)
One group saw a block diagram of a letter
Memorized it
Were asked to mentally travel the letter and indicate if the corner was on the extreme top or bottom
Second group saw a sentence
Memorized it
Were asked to classify each word as a noun by indicating “yes” or “no”
Verbal task
Interference
For image task, RT was slower when pointing
For the symbolic task, RT was slower for the verbal response
Different pattern = different processing for different codes
Propositional Theory
Disagrees with the concept of Dual-Code Theory
Do not store in form of images
Instead have a “generic” code that is called “propositional”
Store the meaning of the concept
Create a verbal or visual code y transforming the propositional code
Ambiguous Figures
People were unable to discover a second interpretation from the image
Then drew the figure and could find