The Drawing Effect: Evaluating Drawing Method and Strategic Implementation on Recall Accuracy

Drawing images of to-be-remembered word’s reference often improves memory for the word relative to a control in which the word is written or read silently, a pattern dubbed the drawing effect. Drawing effects have been recorded in a variety of contexts and are generally more beneficial than other deep/elaborative encoding tasks. My dissertation compared recall for words that are drawn by copying a given image versus generating a drawn image without copying, and in study contexts in which the proportion of drawn items is disproportionally skewed. Experiment 1 gauged whether drawing effects differ relative to writing when participants draw an image by copying versus generating their own image of a study item. Experiment 2 evaluated whether the magnitude of the drawing effect is affected by the proportion of items drawn relative to written within a single list, in which drawing items are frequent or infrequent relative to writing words. Experiment 3 determined whether participant choice regarding which items are drawn versus written may affect recall. Drawing effects emerged across conditions, however these improvements were greater when drawings were generated. Separately, drawing effects were inflated when drawn items were less frequent (i.e., 20% of list items), and importantly, the drawing effect was eliminated when drawing was completed frequently (i.e., 80% of list items). Relatedly, when participants chose which items to draw vs. write, mixed-list writing costs were reduced. Collectively, the drawing effect is most potent when drawing images are self-generated versus copied, when drawing is completed infrequently, and when participants have autonomy in determining which study items to draw and write. These results are anticipated to inform educational practice regarding when drawing is most likely to improve retention.