心理学Essay要求：Drawing's Influential Effects on Memory and Retention

本文是心理学专业的留学生Essay范例，题目是“Drawing's Influential Effects on Memory and Retention（绘画对记忆和记忆的影响）”，许多不同的方法被反复研究，试图找到方法，让人们以最有效的方式保留信息。费尔南德斯、威廉姆斯和米德(2018)进行的一项研究特别测试了绘图对记忆和记忆力的特殊影响。

Abstract摘要

Many different methods have been repeatedly studied in an attempt to find ways for people to retain information in the most efficient manner possible. One study in particular, conducted by Fernandes, Williams, and Meade (2018) tested the particular effects of drawing on memory and retention.

They hypothesized that drawing's effect on memory would be superior to all other methods that people use to try and remember information. The methods they used essentially consisted of having their subjects use various strategies, such as writing and drawing, and comparing the effects of those strategies on the subjects' abilities to remember words and abstract concepts.

他们假设画画对记忆的影响要优于人们用来尝试记忆信息的所有其他方法。他们使用的方法基本上包括让受试者使用各种策略，如写作和绘画，并比较这些策略对受试者记忆单词和抽象概念的能力的影响。

Additionally, the researchers looked at the specific components of drawing, which were highlighted as motor, pictorial, and elaborative, and how multiple combinations of these components aided in memory for the subjects. Ultimately, each experiment aided the researchers to come to the conclusion that drawing does have a very compelling effect on memory, even more so than any other encoding method does.

此外，研究人员还观察了绘图的具体组成部分，这些部分被突出显示为运动的、图画的和精细的，以及这些组成部分的多重组合如何帮助受试者记忆。最终，每一项实验都帮助研究人员得出这样的结论:画画对记忆确实有非常引人注目的影响，甚至比任何其他编码方法都更有影响。

These findings are especially relevant today in a society where superior memory is highly valued and students still struggle with finding effective methods to remember information when preparing for exams. This drawing effect can be taken as a call to action, especially for those students who have yet to find academic success with current conventional study methods.

For years, people have been seeking the most efficient strategies that lead to improved memory. Countless methods have been found, and new findings continue to outrule previous ones. One study in particular has looked into how and why drawing improves memory more than other conventional methods (verbalizing, writing, and enacting) do. This research question is incredibly relevant today because it can be justified by many existing psychological concepts. It can also be beneficial for students who have read this article to implement drawing into their studying techniques, ultimately making their recall process much smoother than it would be if they only used writing as a study method.

多年来，人们一直在寻找提高记忆力的最有效方法。已经发现了无数种方法，新的发现继续超越以前的发现。有一项研究特别研究了绘画如何以及为什么比其他传统方法(口头表达、写作和表演)更能提高记忆。这个研究问题在今天具有不可思议的相关性，因为它可以被许多现有的心理学概念所证明。对于已经读过这篇文章的学生来说，将绘画融入到他们的学习技巧中，最终使他们的记忆过程比仅仅将写作作为一种学习方法更顺畅。

Taking a closer look at the specific experiments conducted, the first hypothesized that in comparison to other methods of encoding, drawing pictures of the information subjects have to memorize would be the most effective. The experiment's design consisted of 30 words being presented one after another to each subject, each word being preceded by a direction on which type of encoding method to use ("draw," indicating to the subject to illustrate the word shown, and "write," meaning the subject should repeatedly write down the word shown). Each trial lasted 40 seconds, and the participant would continue employing the assigned method until the next direction was given. The independent variable here was the indicated method of encoding, whereas the dependent variable was the measured memory of that specific word for each respective subject. This first experiment's results showed that in comparison to writing, drawing proved to be a more powerful method of encoding information for better retention.

These results were also mirrored in a second experiment, wherein each encoding method's effects were magnified by embellished writing or repetitive drawing. Furthermore, the researchers conducted an additional experiment to see whether or not this drawing effect can be attributed to a deep, or semantic, level of processing. One aspect of psychology that the researchers must have utilized to build this initial hypothesis is the spreading activation of the semantic networks in the brain (Psych 240 lecture, 10/28/19). However, the outcome turned out to be, as exemplified in Figure 1 of the research article (indicated below), that the drawing trials were superior to all other trial types, thus supporting the researchers' hypothesis that this drawing effect cannotbe attributed to deep (semantic) processing, shown on the x-axis as its own experiment type (Fernandes, Wammes, & Meade, 2018).

这些结果也反映在第二个实验中，每种编码方法的效果都通过美化文字或重复绘画放大。此外，研究人员还进行了一项额外的实验，看看这种绘图效果是否可以归因于深层次或语义层面的处理。研究人员必须利用心理学的一个方面来建立这一初始假设，即大脑中语义网络的扩散激活(心理学240讲座，10/28/19)。然而，结果证明，正如研究文章的图1所示(如下所示)，绘图试验优于所有其他试验类型，因此支持了研究人员的假设，即这种绘图效果不能归因于深度(语义)加工，在x轴上显示为自己的实验类型(Fernandes, Wammes， & Meade, 2018)。

Looking further into the reasoning behind these conclusions, the visuospatial sketchpad (the component of working memory dedicated to visual imagery and spatial processing) seems like it would be an integral part of the drawing process that the subjects were told to implement here, since one needs to visualize what something is going to look like in their head before drawing it out on a piece of paper. This aspect of the tripartite model of working memory is also doubly dissociated from the phonological loop (meaning the right occipital lobe and right prefrontal areas of these subjects' brains were being activated while they were doing this experiment), thus the latter can be ruled out as being attributed to the drawing method's success (Psych 240 lecture, 10/16/19).

Next, the researchers conducted an experiment to test whether or not the drawing effect can also be applied to broader academic concepts consisting of more than just one word. In this experiment, each subject had 60 seconds to either write the meaning or draw a picture representing a particular indicated academic concept. The independent variable in this case was the condition of encoding, and the dependent variable was the number of concepts correctly remembered. Eventually, the researchers were able to conclude that overall, drawing proved to be a more effective method of encoding in increasing retention of a complex academic concept. This is because drawing forces the subject to create an explanation of the meaning of the concept in their head and then modify it into a completely different manifestation (in this case, a picture on paper). The researchers also noted that the effects of paraphrasing information can be comparable to drawing as well. Their results showed that drawing not only improves memory of their subjects, but it also does so in a way that forces the person to combine information about the context of that drawing, that has the ability to later be retrieved as well (Fernandes, Wammes, & Meade, 2018).

Thus, it is evident that in order to employ the drawing method, these subjects had to take the propositional code they were given, create a depictive image, and draw that onto their paper. This is exhibited in Kosslyn's Compromise Theory, and it makes sense from a logical standpoint of the process each subject has to go through within their given time frame in order to properly carry out this method. Thus, these subjects clearly have to work harder to take in the given information to generate their depictive image, as opposed to simply regurgitating the same words onto a page (Psych 240 lecture, 9/30/19).

因此，很明显，为了使用绘画方法，这些受试者必须采取命题代码，他们被给予，创造一个描述图像，并把它画在他们的纸上。这在Kosslyn的妥协理论中得到了体现，从逻辑的角度来看，每个主体在给定的时间框架内为了正确地执行这种方法而必须经历的过程是有意义的。因此，这些受试者显然必须更加努力地接受给定的信息，以产生他们的描述图像，而不是简单地将相同的单词重复到一页上(心理学240讲座，9/30/19)。

The researchers also conducted two supplementary experiments regarding the components of drawing (motor, pictorial, and elaborative). They hypothesized that the number of components that go into a particular encoding method will have a linear relationship with memory performance. This experiment consisted of two trials, a trace trial and a blind-drawing trial. The trace trial (tracing over a picture that is already drawn for you) tested the motor and pictorial components, but excluded the elaborative component. The blind trial (drawing a picture but not having the ability to see how your drawing is turning out), however, tested the elaborative and motor components, but instead excluded the pictorial component.

Additionally, contrary to the prior experiments, the researchers instituted a two-day delay between encoding and testing. They also used the measure of memory after the writing trial as a standard against which they would compare the other measures. Here, the independent variable was trial type (presence/absence of each component), whereas the dependent variable was the number of words correctly remembered. It is important to note that these two experiments differed in the sense that Experiment 1 did not test the "blind" component of drawing and the "write" method. Yet again, drawing still appeared to be superior to other encoding strategies, as it had the highest accuracy.

此外，与之前的实验相反，研究人员在编码和测试之间设置了两天的延迟。他们还将写作测试后的记忆力测试作为与其他测试进行比较的标准。在这里，自变量是试验类型(每个成分的存在/缺失)，而因变量是正确记住的单词数量。值得注意的是，这两个实验的不同之处在于，实验1没有测试绘画的“盲”成分和“书写”方法。然而，绘图仍然比其他编码策略优越，因为它具有最高的准确性。

In addition, based on Figure 2 (shown below), drawing seemed to have the highest sensitivity compared to the other encoding methods as well. As each individual component of encoding was added, retention also increased, thus supporting the researchers' hypothesis that the two scaled linearly. They also found data to suggest that drawing yielded better retention than the combination of all three components, heavily implying that there is some type of supplementary advantage to drawing as a whole when all of these encoding components are unified (Wammes, Jonker, & Fernandes, 2019).

Overall, the data from these experiments do support the researchers' hypothesis that drawing is a superior method of encoding in comparison to all other forms of encoding.

The results were derived not only through comparing drawing to other encoding strategies, but also when analyzing its individual components that make it so successful. This work also heavily emphasizes the importance of drawing as an encoding method to better remember info in the future - this is applicable especially to university students, who utilize diverse ways to study for exams. For example, incorporating this method into a study guide before an exam as a way to conceptually map out newly learned information can prove to be advantageous for students in the long run.

这些结果不仅是通过与其他编码策略的比较得出的，而且是通过分析使其如此成功的单个组件得出的。这项工作也强调了绘画作为一种编码方法的重要性，以便在未来更好地记忆信息——这尤其适用于大学生，他们利用各种方法来为考试学习。例如，在考试前将这种方法纳入学习指南中，作为一种从概念上绘制新学到的信息的方法，从长远来看对学生是有利的。

After reading these compelling findings, I myself have tried to implement drawing into my study habits for my midterm and final exams this semester and have personally found much success with it. This conclusion ties into the notion that as opposed to just rereading lecture notes, one will prove to be much more successful at remembering information if they simply create their own interpretations and their own forms of quizzing themselves in preparation for examinations. By forcing oneself to think about potential ways in which the information they've learned can be assessed or tested in a real exam, they are forcing themselves to think beyond the redundant lecture notes that they've had for so long.

Drawing also requires people to think in this same manner, as stated by the researchers, thus explaining how it is the most effective of all the encoding strategies tested. This also falls along the same lines as desirable difficulties: this strategy may be hard at first, but implementing drawing into studying to eventually make it a routine strategy is one way to change study habits in order to yield greater retention and results (Psych 240 lecture, 9/9/19). In a world in which individuals are constantly gaining intelligence, finding new ways to outsmart each other, and striving to stand out at the top of their class, methods like these can prove to (eventually) ease the encoding and memory process once one applies them practically.

正如研究人员所说，画画也需要人们以同样的方式思考，这就解释了为什么它是所有测试过的编码策略中最有效的。这也和我们想要的困难是一样的:这种策略一开始可能很难，但将牵引融入学习中，最终使其成为一种常规策略，是一种改变学习习惯的方法，以获得更好的记忆力和成绩(心理240讲座，9/9/19)。在这样一个世界里，每个人都在不断地获得智慧，寻找新的方法来胜过其他人，努力在他们的班级中脱颖而出，一旦人们将这些方法实际应用，这些方法可以证明(最终)简化编码和记忆过程。

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