Bizarre Imagery as an Effective Memory Aid. The Importance of Distinctiveness

Five experiments investigated the effects of imagery type (bizarre or common) on memory. In Experiment 1 bizarre imagery increased recall when imagery type was manipulated in a within-list design but not when imagery type was manipulated in a between-list design. In Experiment 2 it was shown that this effect occurs with imagery processing instructions and not with semantic processing instructions. In Experiment 3 bizarre imagery facilitated recall in a within-list design for both self-paced and experimenter-paced presentations of the stimuli, and in Experiment 4 the pattern of effects of bizarre imagery on memory (in a within-list design) did not parallel the effects of presentation rate on memory. The results of these experiments were inconsistent with an attentional explanation of bizarre imagery effects. In Experiment 5 several types of additional learning were interpolated between initial imaginal processing and testing. Bizarre imagery produced better recall with a between-list manipulation, but only when the additional learning involved common imagery. In addition to delineating the conditions under which bizarre imagery improves recall, the results of these experiments suggest that distinctiveness may underlie the bizarreness effect.