A mnemonic device is any technique or system to improve or aid the memory by use of formulas. Memory aids enjoyed great popularity in ancient times, but with the advent of literacy, the need for memorization was lessened and mnemonics were not taught regularly. However, recent research in cognitive psychology suggests that mnemonics, taught and…

Thirty eleventh-grade students were the subjects of a study to determine whether a person reporting a high degree of mental imagery in reading would also score well on comprehension tests and report a positive attitude toward reading. Subjects were first given the Estes Reading Attitude Scale, the results of which indicated no significant…

A few empirical studies of mnemonic techniques were conducted in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Then, until the 1960s, very little research was done on mnemonics. A revival of research interest in mnemonics, in the late 1960s, accompanied the general acceptability of cognitive processes as a legitimate area of research. Now we're back where we…

Changes in manipulative play with objects were examined in a longitudinal sample of 10 boys and 9 girls tested at ages 9, 13, and 18 months. Stability of individual differences in play was also examined. Each child was observed individually for 7 minutes in a room in which a tea set was the only toy present. Seven types of play behavior were…

This report describes a study of how maps are learned. Subjects (undergraduate students at the University of California) studied a simple map under various conditions and then answered questions about the map and drew the map from memory. It was found that local relations are learned before large-scale relations, that different types of map…

The purposes of this study were to determine if test stimulus was a member of the memory set and if items in an interactive image held in short term memory (STM) could be scanned simultaneously. In experiment one, 50 university subjects compared a test word with a set of one to three words held in STM. The rate of STM search was obtained by…

Studied was the interaction between curriculum treatment and selected aptitude variables as predictors of learning and transfer scores. Visualization ability was measured by a paper folding test; general reasoning ability was measured by the Necessary Arithmetic Operations Test. Geometry students (191) were assigned to treatment groups for two…

Two groups of retarded adolescents were presented sets of multiple verbal directions (imperative sentences). One group was exposed to pictures illustrating the objects and action of each direction in addition to the verbal directions. Subjects were required to carry out performances demanded by the directions. The direction-following behavior of…

In three experiments undergraduates were presented with eight adjective-noun phrases within a paired-associate list context in the orders adjective-noun and noun-adjective and instructed that either word would be given as a cue for recall. The same phrases were presented within a prose context where recall was tested by the cloze procedure. In the…

Much of the creative thought of the designers of our technology is nonverbal; since the Renaissance, it has relied on objects and drawings, not descriptions. Because nonverbal thought is closer to art than science, there is a risk that it will be ignored in engineering education. (Author/SJL)

Describes ways of projecting stereoscopic images of geologic environments for students with difficulty reasoning in three-dimensions. The photographic procedures needed to produce stereo slides are included. (MA)

Suggests through historical examination that memory, primarily linked with the imagination as a constructive and creative factor, is an important element in art training. (Author/RK)

Indicates that persons with different spatial visualization abilities enter different professions and that some sex differences exist with regard to spatial abilities. (RL)

Presents results of an investigation of visual cues which lead to word and letter recognition. (SL)

Matched groups of normal and retarded readers were required to perform same/difference judgments in which the interval between standard and comparison stimuli was either 0, 1, or 6 seconds. (BRT)