According to new research, everyday symbols like &?!#@$ are very easy to remember. study he led University of Waterloo, aims to check how well symbols are remembered compared to words of the same meaning. The research was published in the journal knowledge.
“Our work is groundbreaking because it sheds light on how humans remember graphic icons and the logos“Symbols are particularly useful as they can be used as slogans in advertisements, as well as provide faster communication through emoji,” said Mira Fernandez, co-author and professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Waterloo. Our studies examining symbol memory provide insights into ways to increase symbol retention and improve communication.”
“the memory It is usually better for information presented in an image format than in a Word format. The double coding theory (Bayview, 1969) proposes that this is because the images are automatically classified, creating two analog symbols, picture and wordThe authors explain that words often lead to a single (verbal) symbol.
They added that although philosophers have been fascinated by symbols for thousands of years, psychology has been ambivalent about them. They noted that “although symbols have received relatively little attention in psychological research, images have benefited from a rich history of work.” Thus, they devoted themselves to searching for the supremacy of the symbol in human memory.
The researchers surveyed more than 1,100 adults in five studies to examine the role of symbols in memory. In the interviews, participants were shown a symbol or its verbal equivalent, eg ‘$’ or ‘dollar’, and tested how many symbols or words they could remember.
And in all of the studies, the researchers found that the participants could Remembering symbols is better than words that have the same meaning.
“It is possible that symbols, being standardized characters that are not made up of graphic units (unlike words made of letters), are comprehensively processed as images,” the authors state. Moreover, because symbols are most often used for representation abstract conceptsIt can aid understanding of these ideas, they noted, by providing visual references that are quick and easy to identify.
Symbols can be remembered more easily because they give meaning Concrete pictures of abstract ideas said Brady Roberts, lead author and research physician in cognitive neuroscience. When we think of abstract concepts, eg love, may be difficult to see clearly. But with symbols, we can use some sort of image that represents the concept, like a heart, which makes the abstract idea more concrete and therefore easier to remember.
Roberts added that symbols may also be easier to remember because they are unique and tend to represent a single concept, whereas words can have multiple meanings. Think of the “run” symbol (run in Spanish) [▷]. It has only one meaning: to launch a means of communication. But its counterpart in the word “play” has many other meanings, such as a game or a theatrical performance, and there are many synonyms for that word.
This study is the first to provide evidence that graphic symbols, such as pictures, are better remembered than words, consistent with dual coding theory and interpretation of discrimination. We reason that the symbols present a A visual reference for abstract concepts They stated that they were unlikely to represent themselves spontaneously.
They concluded: “This study sought to address how common graphic symbols are processed in human cognition. The main hypothesis was that graphic symbols serve to identify abstract concepts. As a result, it was expected that symbol memory should be superior to word memory. Moreover, if the graphic symbols do indeed resemble pictures, then the memory for these two types of stimuli should be equivalent. Through five experiments, these predictions were confirmed: symbols were remembered better than words.
The authors hope that their work will help the future of visual design to help communicate complex or abstract ideas clearly.
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