The
Role of Imagery on Imagery-Mediated Strategy in Paired-Associate
Learning of Kanji and Their English Equivalents
Y. Kuwabara |
The
present study was designed to investigate the role of imagery on
paired-associate learning (PAL) of Japanese Kanji (Chinese ideograph)
and English word meaning. Twenty-three foreign students from non-Kanji
using countries participated in the study. To explore the effects
of associative imagery and word imagery, three conditions were compared,
namely, associative picture (AP) presentation, standard picture (SP)
presentation and imagery instruction (II). Recall performances were
analyzed from the viewpoint of Shape-imagery (the ease of associating
a Kanji shape with the imagery of its referent: SI). Memory performances
for high-SI Kanji were the same under all conditions. However, in
low-Sl Kanji, AP proved to yield better memory performances than
the other two conditions. These results showed that associative imagery,
not imagery of the stimulus itself, plays an important role in PAL.
This finding seems to support Bower's interpretation (1970) about
the role of imagery in the PAL of word pairs. Key words: Kanji (Chinese ideograph), paired-associate learning, external imagery, associative imagery |