Helping the cognitive system learn: exaggerating distinctiveness and uniqueness

Abstract

The caricature advantage demonstrates that performance is better when exaggerated stimuli are presented rather than a faithful image. This can be understood with respect to a theoretical framework in which caricaturing maximises the distinctiveness and thus minimises any perceptual or representational confusion. In this study we examine the possibility to harness caricatures to enhance learning. Thus, during learning the caricatures help the cognitive system pick up the unique and distinctive features of the learned material. This in turn helps to construct representations that correctly direct attention to the critical information. We trained 113 participants to identify aircraft across any orientation and found that the use of caricature is advantageous. However, the caricature advantage was most effective in complex learning where it is difficult to differentiate among different aircraft. Furthermore, the caricature advantage for subsequent recognition is attenuated when over-learning has been achieved. These results are discussed in terms of the learning situations in which caricatures can be most effective in enhancing learning.To maximise the potential of learning one must consider the workings of the human cognitive system. Understanding and correctly tapping into the human cognitive mechanisms involved in learning should enable to construct more efficient learning (Dror, 2007; Dror, in press). By efficient learning we mean that maximum knowledge is learned and remembered with minimal time and cognitive investment. The complicated and tricky step is how to connect and translate our understanding of the cognitive system to practical implications in learning. In this paper we try to do just that; namely to take the 'caricature advantage' effect and see if and how it can be utilised to enhance learning.Within the face processing literature, a phenomenon known as the 'caricature advantage' has emerged. This describes the situation in which the processing of a familiar face is achieved more quickly or more accurately when presented with a distorted image of the person than when viewing an accurate image (see Rhodes, 1996 for a review). On the face of it, the fact that performance is improved despite the presentation of an image that is no longer faithful would seem to be counter-intuitive, especially given evidence which suggests that a mere change in viewpoint or expression can adversely affect subsequent recognition performance (Bruce, 1982). Nevertheless, the effect remains strong, and is APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

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