Effects of bizarre imagery on the long-term retention of paired associates embedded within variable contexts

Abstract

Recent findings have shown that bizarre imagery can be an effective mnemonic aid when lengthy retention intervals are employed (O’Brien & Wolford, 1982), and when the surrounding context contains more normal elements (McDaniel & Einstein, 1986). We therefore hypothesized an interaction between context and time of testing with bizarre images. Forty male and female undergraduates were tested in pairs. Each pair was presented with three lists (i.e., normal, bizarre, and mixed), arranged in a randomized order. The sentences within each list consisted of stimulus-response pairs of high-imagery nouns. Each subject pair was told to form an interactive mental image of the two nouns within a restricted period. Then, one subject participated in an immediate cued recall condition for each list while the other was tested after a 1-week retention interval. As predicted, we found a list × test interaction in which items from the mixed list were recalled best under delayed recall. Our results suggest that bizarre images do enhance memory over time, especially when common materials provide a contrasting surround.