The effects of item material on encoding strategies: Survival processing compared to the method of loci

When imagining being stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land without any basic survival material, participants have a magnificent memory for words rated according to their usefulness in this particular situation. Numerous studies could demonstrate that survival processing boosts memory performance more than other memory enhancing techniques. The method of loci is an old mnemonic strategy used to enhance serial recall. This method encompasses navigating mentally through a familiar environment and placing the to-be-remembered items in specific locations. In the later recall phase, the participant re-imagines walking through the environment, “looking” for the to-be-remembered items. In two studies, we compared the survival scenario with the method of loci and two different control conditions. In addition, we manipulated the used word-material on two different dimensions (imageability and relevance) to analyse its influences on the two methods. For words high in imageability, we found that memory performance in the survival condition is comparable to the method of loci. However, for words low in imageability the method of loci proved to be more effective than survival processing. Furthermore, we found that survival relevance has a high impact on the amount of the survival processing effect, even when imageability is low.