A Theoretical Account of Encoding and Retrieval Processes in the Use of Imagery-Based Mnemonic Techniques: The Special Case of the Keyword Method

Abstract

The keyword method is a study technique devised to help people remember unfamiliar vocabulary items. The basic principle underlying this technique consists of associating the unfamiliar word with a familiar word that is physically similar to it. In this first section, we briefly examine the historical origin of the mnemonic keyword method. We have some reasons to expect this study technique to have been invented some time between the epoch of the first celebrated modern mnemonist, Raimond Lulle (1236–1315), and the end of the 19th century. Lulle and later famous mnemonists, such as Lambert Schenkel (1547–1630), were excellent public performers who strongly believed that mnemonic systems could be of practical value in the study of academic subjects. The modern history of mnemotechnics has also been guided by a concern for educational relevance, leading to successive improvements of many techniques. Indeed, many variants of the classical method of loci (see Lieury, 1980; Yates, 1966) were developed to facilitate the study of arithmetic, astronomy, anatomy, botany, geography, history, music, and physics.