Principles of Encoding Mnemonics

Abstract

The phonetic system, phonemic recoding, and imaginal recoding are three encoding mnemonics used to encode digital information into a more easily remembered form. The techniques share the basic principles of recoding, meaningfulness, and organization. The effectiveness of any one technique depends on the utilization of the basic principles. Even though evidence does not support the utility of the phonetic system, this technique appeared to be the most proficient because it has greater potential to generate unique and highly meaningful verbal units. More importantly, the phonetic system has the capacity to organize the newly recoded information in a more integrated manner in memory than either the phonemic or imaginal recoding techniques. This organization of memory provides the possible cues necessary to retrieve the recoded information.