Dual-coding theory holds that the mind processes and stores information along two partly independent channels, one verbal and one nonverbal or visual, and that material encoded in both channels at once is more easily retrieved than material encoded in only one. Allan Paivio of the University of Western Ontario first proposed the theory in the late 1960s, building on research into imagery and memory, and set it out fully in Imagery and Verbal Processes in 1971. In instructional terms the theory is the reason multimedia material pairing relevant images with words tends to be recalled better than words or images alone, though critics note it struggles with concepts that resist easy imagery.
Facts
Core ClaimVerbal and nonverbal (visual/imaginal) information are encoded and stored through two distinct, interconnected cognitive channels, and material coded in both channels together is remembered better than material coded in only one. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Both are cognitivist accounts of how the mind manages limited information-processing capacity during learning.
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