Memory Enhancement via Mnemonic Scaffolds

Abstract

Mnemonic techniques can enable learners to memorize vast amounts of information at first encounter. The most effective mnemonic techniques harness mnemonic scaffolds, memory structures of prior knowledge, to which new information is associated. As impressively demonstrated by memory athletes, training in mnemonic scaffolds can lead to superior memory performance and greatly exceed untrained levels of human memory. Importantly, memory athletes neither have extraordinary brain anatomy nor innate memory capacity— their superior memory is attributed to skilled use of mnemonic scaffolds. Here, we investigate mnemonic scaffolds in novice learners. Our studies include four novel mnemonic scaffolds consisting of different types of prior knowledge and the renowned Method of Loci. Our participants generated their own scaffolds and used them to study word lists in serial order. In addition to the serial recall task, they performed a scaffold-cued recall task, in which they were shown parts of their scaffold as cues to verify whether they used their scaffolds as instructed. In Chapter 2, we introduce the Autobiographical Story Scaffold. In Chapter 3, we compare autobiographical to fictional stories as mnemonic scaffolds for lists of fifteen words. In Chapter 4, we compare the Body Scaffold, Autobiographical Story Scaffold, and Routine Activity Scaffold to the Method of Loci and ask whether individual differences in visual imagery and body responsiveness contribute to their effectiveness. We also ask whether different levels of engagement of the body predict the success of the Body Scaffold. Unlike previous studies, including a formal scaffold-generation phase and a scaffold-cued recall task in all our experiments ensures that success with the strategy can be attributed to participants actually implementing the strategy as instructed. In addition, ours is the first within-experiment comparison that has revealed differences between different kinds of scaffolds, suggesting that the scaffolds, themselves, could be optimized. Across all our experiments we have found that not all scaffolds are equally effective, and that the Body Scaffold is on par with the Method of Loci. The ability to form individual scaffold-word associations is a driving factor behind the successful use of mnemonic scaffolds. Embodied cognition, imagined navigation, and visual imagery aptitude may not contribute to their effectiveness. With further fine-tuning of the scaffolds and the way they are instructed, mnemonic scaffolds can be used to greatly boost learning performance.