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Imagery and Related Mnemonic Processes pp 407–427Cite as

Process Mnemonics: Principles, Prospects, and Problems

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Abstract

Research interest in mnemonics has been continually increasing since the 1960s. Until about the mid-1970s, most research focused on whether mnemonics really worked and how well they worked. Recent research has focused more on how and why mnemonics work, and on ways they can be applied. Some of the large amount of mnemonics research has been summarized elsewhere in this volume, as well as in a number of recent reviews (e. g., Bellezza, 1981, 1984; Higbee, 1979; Levin, 1985a; Pressley, Levin, & Delaney, 1982). The research has typically investigated what might be called “fact” mnemonics, mnemonics that are used on a one to one basis to remember facts—one mnemonic association for each item to be remembered. For example, the rhyme, “In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” can help us remember when Columbus discovered America; the acronym, “HOMES,” can help us remember the names of the five Great Lakes; and the association “pato-pot-duck” can help us remember the Spanish word for “duck.” These mnemonics, however, are not useful for remembering information other than these specific facts.

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Authors
  1. Kenneth L. Higbee
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 46556, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA

    Mark A. McDaniel

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, N6A 5C2, Ontario, London, Canada

    Michael Pressley

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© 1987 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Higbee, K.L. (1987). Process Mnemonics: Principles, Prospects, and Problems. In: McDaniel, M.A., Pressley, M. (eds) Imagery and Related Mnemonic Processes. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4676-3_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4676-3_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9111-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-4676-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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