The Effect of Imageability and Predicability of Cues in Autobiographical Memory
Abstract
Four experiments investigated the role of imagery in the recollection of autobiographical memories. The first two experiments examined the effects of word imageability and word frequency on the retrieval of personal memories in a cued autobiographical memory task. They showed that the imageability of cues (but not frequency) mediates specificity in the recall of personal memories. Experiment 2 explored how different imagery modalities (visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, and motor) influence autobiographical retrieval. Consistent with research on imagery modalities in verbal learning paradigms, visual imageability emerged as the most significant predictor of specificity. Experiments 3 and 4 examined how far a knowledge-based account of imagery effects might account for these effects, using predicability as a measure of semantic richness of a cue. Results found that visual imageability of cues accounted for more variance in specificity of recall than did predicability. The results are explained in terms of the way images represent the most efficient form of summarizing the information that can be used at each stage of the recollection process: setting the retrieval plan, strategic search, and evaluation of candidate episodes.
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Specific memories are more likely to involve mental imagery than general memories.
“Research has shown (Williams et al., 1999) that specific memories are more likely to involve mental imagery than general memories.”
From How personal nostalgia influences giving to charity (2011) · cites this paper as Williams et al., 1999
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- Authors
- Williams, J. M. G., Healy, H. G., & Ellis, N. C.
- Affiliations
- Bangor University (GB)
- Venue
- The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1999-08
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 555-579
- ISSN
- 0272-4987 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-0740
- OpenAlex
- W2036996088
- Cited by
- 147
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 1.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- autobiographical memory, imagery, imageability, word frequency, visual imagery, olfactory imagery, tactile imagery, auditory imagery, motor imagery, semantic richness, memory retrieval
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Autobiographies as Topic, Cues, Female, Humans, Imagination, Male, Memory, Middle Aged, Semantics, Sensitivity and Specificity
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