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Sarah A. Khan
University of Karachi
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 2
INDEX
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
Procedure 6
Results 7
Data Analyses 9
Discussion 10
Conclusion 11
References 12
Appendix I 14
Appendix II 15
Tables 16
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 3
Abstract
Mnemonics are memory aids that use the technique of association to remember information.
They can be verbal or visual.Previous research has suggested that the use of mnemonic
techniques can facilitate memory. However, most of these researches have been conducted in
western countries, so this research was conducted to study the effectiveness of mnemonic
techniques on aiding memory in Pakistan. The present research employed the key word method
of mnemonics for facilitating the serial recall of a list of words. It was hypothesized that the
serial recall for the task done using mnemonic techniques would be better as compared to the
task done without mnemonic techniques. The sample consisted of 30 university students, half
male and half female, who were divided equally into the experimental and the control group. The
participants in the experimental group were given a nursery rhyme containing key words and
were shown flash cards one by one.They were asked to to associate the words on the flash cards
with the key words and were later asked to recall the words on the flash card in the given order.
The experimental group, who used mnemonic techniques for serial recall performed significantly
better than the control group. The findings supported the hypothesis. This research used difficult
words and it is expected that the recall would have been even better if simpler words had been
used. Nevertheless, this research supports previous researches in the fact that mnemonic
Memory is a huge part of everyday life. Some people are naturally better at retaining and
recalling memories than others, but there are ways to improve memory and recall.There are two
types of memory, short term memory and long term memory. Information that is recognized by
the brain is passed on to short term memory, where it is held for about 20 or 30 seconds. If this
information is rehearsed by repetition or by being processed in some other way that can link it up
with other information already stored in memory, it may then be passed to long term memory.
When asked to recall, short-term memory retrieves this information from the long term stores. To
improve the capacity of short term memory, a strategy called mnemonics may be used.A
mnemonic is a memory technique that can help the brain better encode and recall information. .
Mnemonic techniques and systems have been used for at least 2,500 years, but have been studied
experimentally for less than 40 years. They are based on the basic principles of learning and
memory. They work by associating new information with the knowledge which is already stored
in the long-term memory. This allows for better encoding of new information which can improve
There are many types of mnemonic techniques such rhymes and poems, acronyms,
images etc. They use cues which serve as a means for retrieval of stored information. Acronyms
can also be used as mnemonic devices as first letters of words act as cues to the actual words. For
example, VIBGYOR is used to remember the colors in a rainbow. One widely used mnemonic
technique is the method of loci, in which the individual uses the places in a habitual route for
remembering a series of items. It uses imagery for memorization. Another similar mnemonic
technique is the peg word or the key word method, in which rhyming words are used as pegs or
keys with which new items are associated. The pegs serve as retrieval clues to the information
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 5
that needs to be learned. The peg words represent numbers, which makes sequential retrieval
possible.
Modern memory research has shown clearly that mnemonics can be powerful learning
tools in certain contexts, such as remembering a list of concrete objects (Bower, 1970 as cited by
Putnam, 2015) The key word method is particularly effective for remembering foreign
vocabulary. Students that used the key word system to remember Russian vocabulary learned
significantly better than those who did not use this technique (Atkinson & Raugh, 1975 as cited
by Davidoff, 1980) It can also be applied to learning more complex material such as state-capital
associations and biological hierarchies Using imagery to learn new information rather than
relying on simple repetition, makes the material more memorable (Meier,1985 ; Pavio,1983 as
cited by Davidoff, 1980) The peg system has also been applied in a classroom with learning
disabled students. The students that used the peg system performed significantly better than the
control in both immediate and delayed tests.(Veit,1986) Both the loci and the peg method have
been shown to be effective for remembering lists of concrete objects especially if the exact order
is important. However, most of the research into mnemonic has been done in Western countries,
so the present research was conducted to explore the effect of mnemonic techniques on memory
mnemonics for the serial recall of a list of words by comparing the results of the the
experimental and the control group. It was hypothesized that the experimental group would
Procedure
The sample consisted of 30 university students, half male and half female, who agreed to
participate in a study on memory. The participants were divided equally into the experimental
and the control group, and the independent group design was used. The experimental group was
given a task in which they were given a nursery rhyme containing underlined peg
words.(Appendix I) Peg words are concrete nouns that rhyme with the numbers like "one is a
bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree," and so on.The rhyme was available to the participants
throughout the experiment.The participants were then shown ten flash cards one by one, that had
They were then asked to associate the first flash card with the first key word by
imagining a weird, funny or dramatic image. Examples were given to aid them in association
such as, to associate the word “florist” with the key word “bun”, they could imagine a florist
standing in a garden full of buns instead of flowers. Each participant could take as much time as
they wanted to associate the flash cards with the key words. They were asked to visualize the
second word in some interaction with a shoe, visualize the third word interacting with a tree, and
so on. After the participants were done, they were asked to recall all the words in the given
sequence. The number of their correct responses and the number of errors they made were
noted.The independent variable was the mnemonic technique, and the dependent variable was
The participants in the control group were shown the same flash cards one by one, and
were asked to memorize the words written on them. After they were done, they were asked to
recall the words in the given order. The number of correct answers and errors was recorded.
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 7
Results
Table 1
Male Female
Table 2
Male Female
0
Correct responses Incorrect responses
Experimental group Control Group
0
Experimental Control Group
Group
Male Female
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 9
Data Analyses
The mean of correct and incorrect responses of all particpiants in the experimental and
control group were calculated. The results showed that the mean number of correct responses
were significantly higher in the experimental group than the control group, supporting the
facilitating effect of mnemonic techniques in memory and recall.More errors were made by the
participants in the control condition.The female participants performed slightly better than the
male participants in both the experimental and the control conditions. The male participants
made more errors in recalling the words than the female participants. The results are congruent
with our hypothesis as the serial recall for the task done using the mnemonic technique was
Discussion
Previous research has repeatedly found a positive link between mnemonic techniques and
memory. The current research advanced these findings by investigating this technique in a South-
Asian country, Pakistan. The facilitating effect of mnemonic techniques can be explained by
many theories. Imagination and Association are two fundamental principles underlying the use of
mnemonics. Association creates a link between new and already stored information in the brain,
which increases the likelihood of encoding and transfer of new information from the short term
to the long term memory. Imagination or visualization strengthens the association. The
participants were encouraged to imagine vivid, dramatic or funny situations which makes the
information more likely to be stuck in the mind for later recall. Images are part of long term
memory, and the key words were daily routine objects such as bun, shoe, tree etc, which makes it
even easier to imagine and associate the key words with the new words.This can help overcome
the limitations of short term memory, which can generally hold 7(+/- 2) items at a time
depending on the individual(Miller,1956) while more recent research suggests that only four
words can be retained by short term memory at a time (Cowan, 2001) The peg system organizes
information by putting it in a sequential manner along with the peg words. Organisation could
have helped to retain the words more effectively, as it has long been known that memory
(Bower, et al.1969 as cited by Mocko, et al. 2017) Retreival and recall of the words was aided by
the use of cues. The key words acted as cues to the words on the flash cards. Since the rhyme
was available to the participants during the task and also at the time of recall, the participants did
not need to worry about forgetting the key words.This would have helped avoid cognitive
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 11
overload. Selective attention may also have played a key part since the peg words had been
However, the effect of using mnemonic techniques on recall was not as pronounced as
one would expect considering the above theories on how mnemonics facilitate memory. One
possible explanation of this could be that the words to be remembered were high on the level of
difficulty. The participants might have become anxious when they saw those mostly novel,
difficult words. Since the sample size was small, and the participants mostly belonged to the
University of Karachi, the results may not generalize to students of other universities in Pakistan.
In the light of the limitations mentioned above, it would be useful to replicate this
experiment using easier words, and taking students with different cultural, linguistic and
educational backgrounds, with greater age diversity. Finally, the effect of using other mnemonic
techniques on recall such as the loci method needs to be investigated. Studies have shown that
students think that some mnemonics are easier, faster, more enjoyable, and more useful than rote
rehearsal (Fritz, et al.2007 as cited by Putnam,2015) and that mnemonics can reduce test anxiety
(Stalder & Olson. 2011 as cited by Putnam, 2015) Further research can advance our
understanding about the effectiveness of mnemonics to promote their use in academics to aid
learners.
Conclusion
The present research builds on the robust psychological research showing that using
mnemonic techniques can be an effective way to remember and recall new information.The
techniques can not only help students in their academics but can also be used by people to
References
58, 496 –510, in Putnam,A.L. (2015) Mnemonics in Education: Current Research and
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000023
Bower, G. H; Clark, M.C; Lesgold, A.M; Winzenz, D.(1969). “Hierarchical Retrieval Schemes in
Recall of Categorized Word Lists,” Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior. (8,3)
https://doi.org/10.1080/10691898.2017.1294879
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X01003922
Fritz, C.O; Morris, P.E; Acton, M; Voelkel, A.R; Etkind, R. (2007). Comparing and combining
retrieval practice and the keyword mnemonic for foreign vocabulary learning. Applied
Miller, G.A. (1956). "The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0043158
Paivio, A. (1983). The empirical case for dual encoding. In J.C. Yuille (Ed.), Imagery, memory,
Stalder, D.R ; Olson, E.A. (2011). t for two: Using mnemonics to teach statistics. Teaching of
Research and Applications Translational Issues in Psychological Science. (1,2), 130 –139.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000023
Veit, D.T; Scruggs, T.E; Mastropieri, M.A. (1986). "Extended mnemonic instruction with
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.78.4.300
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 14
Appendix I
Nursery Rhyme
One is a bun
Two is a shoe
Three is a tree
Four is a door
Five is a hive
Six is a stick
Seven is heaven
Eight is a gate
Nine is a line
Ten is a hen
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 15
Appendix II
Words on flashcards
2.Lapidary: a jeweller
4.Locksmith: a person who works with locks,keys & the security system
Tables
Table 3
Male Female
Exp.
Number of correct responses Number of errors Number of correct responses Number of errors
No
1 6 4 6 4
2 6 4 7 3
3 4 6 1 9
4 2 8 4 6
5 5 5 7 3
6 9 1 1 9
7 7 3 4 6
8 5 5 3 7
9 2 8 4 6
10 7 3 9 1
11 6 4 6 4
12 6 4 9 1
13 7 3 9 1
14 3 7 5 5
15 8 2 10 0
MNEMONIC TECHNIQUES AND SERIAL RECALL 17
Table 4
Male Female
Exp. Number of correct responses Number of errors Number of correct responses Number of errors
No
1 5 5 3 7
2 2 8 5 5
3 3 7 5 5
4 4 6 6 4
5 4 6 3 7
6 9 1 5 5
7 3 7 2 8
8 2 8 3 7
9 3 7 1 9
10 1 9 5 5
11 1 9 6 4
12 3 7 4 6
13 4 6 3 7
14 3 7 4 6
15 5 5 6 4