Guy Reams (00:00.878)
Today is day 224, the dual coding theory.
So, Alan Paveo was this really fascinating figure that I encountered during my undergraduate. Not only was he a bodybuilder who clinched the title of Mr. Canada in 1948, but he also owned a gym and a health studio in Montreal. His most significant contribution lies in the realm of cognitive psychology. And Paveo is best known for this, which is his...
dual coding theory or the idea that humans process information both visually and verbally. So, Pavio made it his career to really understand, try to deal with how humans cognitively remember and recall information. I came across this in my communication studies and I found this a very fascinating theory.
According to his theory, brain activity in humans has been divided for quite some time, probably about 2500 to 3000 years. Humans, somewhere along the process, started teaching ourselves to process both visual and verbal information. And we started to associate verbal sounds and word, which we now
relate to words, the imagery. And so those are handled by two separate processes in our brain. So if we understand this, we can not only make connections and integration, but we can also increase the limited capacity of our working memory.
Guy Reams (01:56.174)
So this has a lot of implications for recall and recognition. You might, and this seems rather obvious now to us now. If you, for example, you might have played those games on the internet where they show you a picture of a cow or the joke, I think it's a joke, where they show you a picture of cow, cow, cow, and then they show you a picture of milk, cow and milk.
Then they ask you the question, what do cows drink or what do adult cows drink? Say milk, because that's what you associated. But really it was water. Same thing you you you keep seeing an image of a dog when we see an image of a dog, we immediately we can think of the word dog. And so if somebody tells us the word dog, we also have in our mind a dog. Like if I say cat right now. Just say the word cat, you are probably.
You can't avoid it, your brain is processing an image of a cat.
So we associate verbal with and nonverbal. So this happens in our language as well. Interesting, the more advanced our languages have become, the more we have created symbols and pictures to represent sounds and those sounds we pronounce with our mouths. So we have both the verbal and the nonverbal going on in our language communication as well.
The implications of this theory are profound when it comes to learning. If we associate meaning with both visual and verbal details, our ability to remember is greatly improved if we do both. By pairing words with pictures, we can dramatically enhance our learning, memory, recognition, and recall of information. I've always thought about this concept since I learned it, and I've always gravitated towards methods.
Guy Reams (04:01.998)
which require me to incorporate both of these elements in my learning. When I first began, I would simply draw little pictures in a notebook. That always has helped me. You might call it scribbling or doodling, but in reality, when I doodle on a page with little pictures that represent what it is I'm writing, I'll always remember that picture in my mind and associate the words that I wrote down with the memory of those images.
Later, I used a PowerPoint like application to grab clipart and drop them on a slide with the words I wanted to remember. And that was an easy way to recall the information by scanning through the slides very quickly. So those are some of the ways that I did this now. And you might you might have done this as a child with flashcards. I don't know if you're about me, but I would study with flashcards. But I remember to this day, the look of the flashcard.
not necessarily the content of the flash card. And it's amazing how I'll associate the look of the flash card with a particular image or word. Nowadays, I use a diagram in software. My favorite right now is Miro. And Miro has an, I can use an ever expanding universe or library of pictures and elements and icons. And even now with mid journey or with chat GPT or some other tool,
I can really quickly create images, vector art images that represent what it is I'm thinking. And I can drop those in a diagramming tool, associate them with words. And that helps me create this visual verbal integration with my learning capability. So I now find myself diagramming what I want to remember. Alan Paveo's dual coding theory provides insights into how we retain information.
I think his theories have been backed up by science lately. And so if you want to enhance your cognitive ability and you want to improve your recall and your learning, then I would highly recommend learning to use a diagramming or visual tool to aid your studies. By combining those two together, you were actually studying by creating pictures, by creating narratives with flowing storylines.
Guy Reams (06:25.614)
you were able to create a way for your mind to always remember the what it is that you were trying to remember. This is a really interesting thing to know about human cognition and how we store and retrieve memory. So with that, I will say goodbye. Thank you.