MECHANISMS THAT FACILITATE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ELABORATION STRATEGIES

The authors examined the role of distinctiveness in the differential m emory performance of visual and verbal elaboration strategies. Twenty- eight undergraduates learned information about familiar and unfamiliar animals while using either the visual (imagery) or verbal (answering why questions) elaboration strategies. There was no difference between the 2 strategies in level of organization for the familiar animal mat erial, but imagery students organized unfamiliar animal information in to intact sets more than verbal elaboration students. Imagery easily p ermits the generation of relations and distinctions for unfamiliar mat erial through the creation of unique mental images, In contrast, learn ers using verbal elaboration may be more likely to access general rath er than specific information when answering why questions for unfamili ar information.