The Effects of Self-GeneratedVisual Mnemonics on Adult Learning DisabledReaders' Word Recall
H. Lee Swanson, James C. Overholser, John B. Cooney · Learning Disabilities Research and Practice · 1988
This study investigated the effects of sentence imagery (bizarre or plausible) and orienting instructions (semantic or imagery processing) on adult learning disabled readers' word recall. Memory for underlined nouns within a sentence was measured under immediate and delayed (one-week) recall conditions. In the immediate recall condition, a cued recall task yielded better word retrieval for common than for bizarre sentences. Disabled readers' word recall for both sentence types was poorer during imagery than semantic- processing instructions. Ability groups were comparable in word recall during the semantic-processing instructions. For the long-term interval, there were no reliable free recall effects for sentence type or orienting instruction. Regardless of instructional conditions, however, skilled readers recalled and clustered more items than disabled readers. Poor performance of both ability groups during the longterm memory phase was consistent with research indicating that bizarre imagery does not improve memory accuracy. Support was not found for the hypothesis that bizarre imagery serves as an effective memory aid or that disabled readers benefit from selfgenerated imagery.