Effects of Mental Imagery and Cognitive Style on Source Memory

Abstract

Eyewitness testimony plays a crucial part in the legal system. One type of information that witnesses are often asked about relates to how they obtained the information they have. Did they see it? Hear it? Read about it? The present paper examines two factors that might influence how well a person can remember the source of the information they have: (1) cognitive style and (2) vividness of visual imagery. Cognitive style refers to the modality in which an individual most readily processes information, and vividness of visual imagery refers to the clarity and precision with which someone conjures visual images in their mind. The literature is generally mixed on the effects of variations of these factors on source memory errors. Some studies show that people who have a visual cognitive style have an advantage over people with a verbal cognitive style, yet other studies show them to have no advantage. On the other hand, people with highly vivid mental imagery tend to have poorer memory for sources than do people with non-vivid imagery. These divergent results call for more research that examines these factors together in the same participants. Furthermore, there are notable limitations to the literature and the methods used therein. In the future, there should be studies that address the limitations considered in this article related to the way individual differences are measured and the order in which those tests are administered. Doing so would deepen our understanding of the role of mental imagery on source memory, which has important implications in the context of eyewitness testimony scenarios.