Chinese Characters Memorization By Using NNMIM(The Natural Numeral Marvelous Imagery Memory):an ERP Study

It has been confirmed that the Natural Numeral Marvelous Imagery Memory(NNMIM) which are called memory strategies dramatically improve the performance of memory recall. However, there has been no direct research to examine changes in brain activity associated with the use of the method of NNMIM within individuals. In the present study, combining behavioral experiments with ERPs, we compared the memory effect and neural mechanism before and after instruction in the method of NNMIM.Each participant were instructed to use either rote(in the pre-test) or NNMIM(in the post-test) strategies to memorize concrete and abstract words in a subsequent memory paradigm. The resulting behavioral data and the ERPs data were recorded during both the encoding phases and recall phases. There are 16 participants whose average age is around 23 enrolling in the study.The resulting behavioral data showed that the use of the method of NNMIM significantly increased the memory efficiency(hit rate subtract false rate) and speed for memory recall. The ERPs data showed that abstract word evoked more negative N400(350-400ms) than concrete word when using NNMIM during meaning activation. The ERP differences would index the greater semantic processing. When participants used NNMIM strategies, greater N700(500-700ms) was evoked during encoding both concrete and abstract words. The effect would index the activity control and modulate the retrieval of representations from the long-term memory system.The results of behavioral data confirm that the NNMIM has significant effect on improving memory. On the other side, The ERPs data suggest that the NNMIM is much more helpful for participants to memorize the Chinese characters by the activation of an image-based processing mechanism.