Dual coding theory proposes that there are two separate channels for processing information - a verbal system that handles language and a nonverbal system specialized for visual and spatial processing. Information can be coded verbally as words or nonverbally as mental images. These coding systems operate independently but are interconnected, allowing information to be represented and retrieved through both verbal and nonverbal codes. Dual coding theory suggests that combining words and images leads to better memory than relying on just one code alone.

1. ARIHANT INSTITUTE
OF TEACHERS
TRAINING

2. NAME: Shendkar Rupali P.
COURSE NO: 103
Teaching and Learning
UNIT: Dual coding theory

3. General Information
 Dual coding is a theory of cognition
introduced by Allan Paivio in late 1960s.
 This theory suggests that there are two
distinct subsystems contributing to
cognition: one is specialized for language
and verbal information, and the other for
images and non-verbal information.
 According to Paivio,
“Human cognition is unique in that it has
become specialized for dealing simultaneously
with language and with nonverbal objects and
events.”1)

4. What is dual coding theory?

5. Dual code theory
● “The most general assumption in dual coding theory is
that there are two classes of phenomena handled
cognitively by separate subsystems, one specialized for
the representation and processing of information
concerning nonverbal objects and events, the other
specialized for dealing with language.”2)

6. Dual code theory
 The two mentioned kinds of processing systems, verbal and non-
verbal are functionally and structurally independent.
 This means that each of them can work independently of the other one
and that they work on different kinds of representational units.
 Representational units are “relatively stable long-term information
corresponding to perceptually identifiable objects and activities, both
verbal and nonverbal.”.3)

7. : Dual code theory
 3) They are divided into:
 logogens, referring to verbal entities (spoken or written
words) and organized in terms of associations and
hierarchies, and
 imagens, referring to mental images and non-verbal
entities and organized in terms of part-whole
relationships.
 For example, a written or spoken word will be processed
using the verbal processor and stored as a verbal
representation - logogen, but a sound not related to
language will be processed by the non-verbal processor
and stored as a non-verbal representation -
imagen.Novak and Cañas (2006) also made

8. Dual code theory
 Logogens and imagens are connected with two kinds of connections:
 Referential connections, which represent links between logogens and
imagens.
Referential connections enable performing operations like
imaging to words and naming to pictures or images to words.
 For example, associations of an image of a school building or an
unpleasant feeling (both non-verbal entities) elicited by the word
school (a verbal entity).

9. : Dual code theory
 Logogens and imagens are connected with two kinds of connections:
 Associative connections, which represent connections between
logogens or between imagens. Associative connections on the other
hand enable forming verbal-verbal or non-verbal-non-verbal
associations. For example, the word school can elicit verbal entities
blackboard, or boredom.
 Both referential and associative types of connections help forming the
complex networks of human memory.
 Paivio also refers to the issue of problem-solving. Problem-solving is,
according to Pavio, the result of joined work of both verbal and non-
verbal processing, but if the task is more concrete and non-verbal, the
contribution of non-verbal processing system will be more crucial to
the outcome and vice-versa.

10. : Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory is a general theory of cognition and mind. It
originated in the 1960s to explain the powerful effects that
mental imagery has on memory, and it has been extended since
to account for increasingly more mental phenomena.
 Dual coding theory has inspired much research and debate in
psychology, and it has played a major role in stimulating a
modern resurgence of interest in mental imagery and its role in
mind.
 It has been described as “one of the most influential theories of
cognition this century” (Marks, 1997). It has been directly
applied to education in several fields.
 The major volumes that detail the theory, its extensions, and its
empirical base are Paivio (1971, 1986, 1991, 2007), Paivio and Begg
(1981), and Sadoski and Paivio (2001).

11. : Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory is sometimes referred to as a theory of mental
imagery, particularly visual imagery. However, the theory is more
than that. From an historical perspective, it is the first systematic,
scientific attempt to bridge two traditions in philosophy and
psychology: the imagery tradition and the verbal tradition.
 The imagery tradition can be traced to the emphasis on concrete
experience and thought in Aristotle, the Renaissance educators'
slogan of “things not words,” the pragmatism of George Herbert
Mead and John Dewey, and aspects of the cognitive revolution in
modern psychology.
 The verbal tradition emphasized the abstract and can be traced to
the idealist philosophy of Plato, Peter Ramus's epitome of linear
verbal organization, Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism, and
the exclusive emphasis on language in behav-iorist psychology. The
historical tension between these traditions is recounted in Yates
(1966), Carruthers (1993), Paivio (1971, 2007), and Sadoski and
Paivio (2001). The implications of bridging these two traditions are
far reaching but remain controversial in the early 2000s

12. Basic principles of Dual code theory
 The core ideas of dual coding theory can be stated succinctly:
The theory assumes that cognition involves the activity
of two qualitatively different mental codes, a verbal code
specialized for dealing with language in all its forms and a
nonverbal code specialized for dealing with nonlinguistic objects
and events in the form of mental images.
 These coding systems are separate but interconnected so that
they can operate independently, in parallel, or through their
interconnections.
 The linguistic, or verbal, code dominates in some tasks, the
nonverbal code dominates in others, and both systems are
frequently used together.
 The great diversity and flexibility of cognition all comes from
activity within and between these codes. No deeper, abstract
code is assumed.

13. Basic principles of Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory is based on the common assumption of a
continuity between perception and memory.
 External experiences occur through the stimulation of people's
senses and are encoded in memory traces that retain some of
their original, concrete qualities as words and things.
 The theory is, therefore, multimodal because both verbal and
nonverbal experiences can occur in different sense modalities,
including vision, hearing, and touch (Braille) in the case of
language, and all five senses in the case of mental images.
 Theories of working memory that propose different, modality-
specific memory stores are generally consistent with dual coding
theory.
 For example, the working memory theory of Baddeley and
Hitch (1974) proposes a phonological loop for rehearsing inner
speech and a visuospatial sketchpad for manipulating visual
images.

14. Basic principles of Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory also assumes innate contributions
to cognition and individual differences because all
human nature is the product of the interaction of
genes and the environment.
 More layers of complexity are built on these basic
assumptions, including accounts of meaning, memory,
knowledge organization, and learning.
 One direct implication of the theory is that pictures or
concrete language (e.g., juicy hamburger) should be
understood and recalled better than abstract language
(e.g., basic assumption), a consistent research finding.

15. Basic principles of Dual code theory
 The core ideas of dual coding theory can be stated succinctly: The
theory assumes that cognition involves the activity of two
qualitatively different mental codes, a verbal code specialized for
dealing with language in all its forms and a nonverbal code
specialized for dealing with nonlinguistic objects and events in
the form of mental images. These coding systems are separate but
interconnected so that they can operate independently, in parallel,
or through their interconnections.
 The linguistic, or verbal, code dominates in some tasks, the
nonverbal code dominates in others, and both systems are
frequently used together. The great diversity and flexibility of
cognition all comes from activity within and between these codes.
No deeper, abstract code is assumed.

16. Basic principles of Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory is based on the common assumption of a
continuity between perception and memory. External experiences
occur through the stimulation of people's senses and are encoded
in memory traces that retain some of their original, concrete
qualities as words and things.
 The theory is, therefore, multimodal because both verbal and
nonverbal experiences can occur in different sense modalities,
including vision, hearing, and touch (Braille) in the case of
language, and all five senses in the case of mental images.
 Theories of working memory that propose different, modality-
specific memory stores are generally consistent with dual coding
theory. For example, the working memory theory of Baddeley and
Hitch (1974) proposes a phonological loop for rehearsing inner
speech and a visuospatial sketchpad for manipulating visual
images.
 Dual coding theory assumes that long-term memory is modality
specific as well.

17. : Basic principles of Dual code theory
 Dual coding theory also assumes innate contributions to
cognition and individual differences because all human
nature is the product of the interaction of genes and the
environment.
 More layers of complexity are built on these basic
assumptions, including accounts of meaning, memory,
knowledge organization, and learning.
 One direct implication of the theory is that pictures or
concrete language (e.g., juicy hamburger) should be
understood and recalled better than abstract language
(e.g., basic assumption), a consistent research finding.

18. : Classroom Implication and Teaching Strategies
 CHALLENGES AND CONTROVERSIES
 Dual coding theory can be contrasted with theories which assume that all
cognition has a common, abstract code in the form of schemata or
propositions (Sadoski, Paivio, & Goetz, 1991).
 This mentalese is assumed to be computational in nature, built into the brain
like a computer's built-in machine code (Pylyshyn, 2003).
 Proponents believe that this conception is more elegant and parsimonious
than dual coding theory, and some aspects of cognition have been modeled in
computers to a degree (Seidenberg, 2005).
 However, Paivio (2007) responded that such theories lack elegance because of
the complexity of their programming, and they cannot account for findings
involving mental imagery, concreteness effects, and neuropsychological
evidence.
 These debates remain unresolved and challenging.

19. •THANK YOU