The Interactiveness of Paired Images is Affected by Image Bizarreness and Image Vividness

We performed experiments in which subjects were exposed to pairs of words and asked to visualize interactive images as an aid to recall. Some subjects were asked to form normal interactive images and others to form bizarre interactive images. Our aim was to investigate the extent to which 1) the types of image generated by the subject (normal or bizarre), 2) the vividness of the images generated, and 3) the subject's imaging ability affect the degree of interaction between images. For each subject and each word pair, image type, image vividness, and between-image interaction were all subsequently evaluated by independent judges on the basis of the subject's written description of the images used for each pair. Between-image interaction was significantly greater for bizarre than for normal images. Likewise, between-image interaction was significantly greater for vivid than for nonvivid images. The results were essentially the same regardless of whether words were presented in short (16-pair) or long (32-pair) lists.