Review of Images in mind: The evolution of a theory.

Abstract

In this review I hope to capture some of the flavour of Images in Mind, in which Allan Paivio traces some of the signal events in the evolution of dual coding theory. I encourage each reader of the review to become a reader of the book. The main reward is a glimpse of the workings of a great mind, but there are practical benefits as well. I am reminded of an interview with Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones. When asked how he came up with so many songs, he replied that he just played through his Buddy Holly Song Book, and something always came up. Reading papers by Paivio has the same effect on me; I can't read his work without many experiments coming up.I agreed to review Images in Mind only after some real soul searching. How can I pretend to be objective? Al Paivio was my graduate supervisor. He taught me to do science. I believe that he is one of the clearest thinkers who has ever played psychology, but that he has successfully included the artistic and creative side of his nature into the tough - minded scientist that he is. And, in a fundamental sense, that is the real root of dual coding theory. We have two different ways of thinking, and any theoretical approach that excludes either of them gives too narrow a view of human cognition.How is the book organized? There are 20 chapters in the book, of which the middle 18 are reprinted from many sources spanning the years from 1963 to 1989, published by Paivio and several collaborators. Chapters 1 and 20 are original to the book. Chapter 1 is an orientation and overview; Chapter 20 is a description of loose ends, unsolved puzzles, and the author's hopes for future progress. An obvious question with older articles is Does the language travel, or do yesterday's insights become today's ho hums? Although I have previously read almost all of the articles that are reprinted in the book, I put myself in the position of a new reader and read all of them. In some ways each chapter is a microcosm of the book, beginning with an overview, presenting new evidence, and nothing any discrepancies that call for theoretical evolution. There is some unevenness in the articles, but most of them are clear and easy to read, and they travel well through time, from as long ago as 1963. It is work to read the book, but it is work worth doing.Summary of dual coding theory. The focus of the book is with dual coding theory, according to which the cognitive system consists of two symbolic systems. One is the verbal system; its units are representations that are activated by linguistic symbols, and that are organized in sequential strings. The other is the nonverbal system; its units are representations that are activated by nonlinguistic objects and events, and that are characteristically organized in synchronous bundles. It is assumed that the systems are functionally independent, which means that one system can be active without parallel activity in the other. However, the systems are connected by reference; pictures can be named and words can be imaged. Whereas the verbal system is abstract, with symbols that are arbitrarily related to their verbal activators, the nonverbal system contains information that is analogous to the events that activate it. With this brief summary as a guide, let us now consider the contents in more detail.Detailed ContentsChapter 1. Ever the empiricist, Paivio tells his story with concrete examples to serve as conceptual pegs. The young Al Paivio learned about imagery mnemonics in 1950, in a course in public speaking. During his graduate education at McGill, he was surprised to find that there was very little experimental evidence relevant to the obvious value of imagery in service of memory. Judging by the success of the memory pegs, it should be easy to show that imagery is especially effective when cues retrieve memories. It was easy to show, but because of the covert nature of images, there were many detractors among the behaviouristic verbal learners of the day. …