Effects of Audiovisual Memory Cues on Working Memory Recall

Previous studies have focused on topics such as multimodal integration and object discrimination, but there is limited research on the effect of multimodal learning in memory. Perceptual studies have shown facilitative effects of multimodal stimuli for learning; the current study aims to determine whether this effect persists with memory cues. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect that audiovisual memory cues have on memory recall, as well as whether the use of multiple memory cues leads to higher recall. The goal was to orthogonally evaluate the effect of the number of self-generated memory cues (one or three), and the modality of the self-generated memory-cue (visual: written words, auditory: spoken words, or audiovisual). A recall task was administered where participants were presented with their self-generated memory cues and asked to determine the target word. There was a significant main effect for number of cues, but no main effect for modality. A secondary goal of this study was to determine which types of memory cues result in the highest recall. Self-reference cues resulted in the highest accuracy score. This study has applications to improving academic performance by using the most efficient learning techniques.