The widest uniform model in addition to the Strømnes model, which take a stand on both images and verbal processing, is Paivio’s dual coding model. Next, I look at the Paivio model and show where his model differs from the Strømnes model. They have some similarities but also differences on crucial points.
Paivio’s dual coding model (Paivio, 1971; Paivio & Begg, 1981) assumes two parallel coding systems, verbal and imaginary, that are independent of each other, but are interconnected in many different ways. The verbal system is specialized in the processing of linguistic information and the image system for the processing of non-verbal information. The representation of the image system is assumed to be largely consistent with perception. Although Paivio does not say it directly in his presentation (Paivio & Begg, 1981, 70), he apparently assumes the images to be continuous. He assumes words to be a discontinuous form of expression. The connection between words, the objects, and events they refer to he assumes to be random. By this he means the symbolic function of spoken words, their connection to their non-verbal referents.
Paivio assumes the form of mental words (corresponding to the images of the central nervous system) as analogous to spoken words in the same way as the images are analogous to perception. In the Strømnes (1973) model, words are assumed to be random symbols and their meaning is in their ability to evoke images. The imaginary system is assumed to be the primary system and the data processing in the psychological sense takes place at this level. For this reason, the concepts of the theory are largely spatial and emphasize spatial relationships.
In the Paivio model (Paivio & Begg, 1981, 116) meaning has several levels: representational, referential and associative. All of these can be treated as imagenes (on the image system side) and logos (on the verbal system side). The model is quite complex in its entirety, and not all the impact relationships are precisely defined. The Strømnes model has no concept of “meaning” and he has referred to the problematic nature of the concept (Strømnes & Iivonen, 1985). The important part of the Paivio model is the distinction between concrete and abstract words that has been used to explain a large number of memory-related phenomena. Strømnes (1974a, 30: 1979, 270) has questioned the term “abstract” and uses the term “conceptual”.
For learning the first language, the explanations of the models are fundamentally similar (Johansson, 1994; Paivio, 1971, 437-438). However, the Strømnes model is much simpler, making it possible to explain the language learning of children without the innate readiness for language learning and universal grammar (Chomsky, 1972). Strømnes has criticized the Chomsky model and suggested that learning the syntax is based on the same laws as other learning (Strømnes & Iivonen, 1985). Similar thoughts have been put forward by, among others Tomasello (1992), although based on a different model.
Paivio’s model does not explain the difficulties in learning a foreign language because it does not accurately describe how language and imagery systems are related. In the Strømnes model, the connection between words and images is defined in a way that lead to differences in language perception at the image level. The models can be experimentally tested (Strømnes, 1974b, 1974c; Strømnes & Iivonen, 1985; Strømnes et al., 1982, 1983). Different mental models of languages were studied by Strømnes by producing animated films depicting the spatial relationships in Finnish cases and Swedish prepositions (Strømnes, 1974d).
REFERENCES
Chomsky, N. (1972) Language and mind. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Johansson, A. (1994) Relativism and universalism in psychology. Tieteenteorian kurssin tutkielma. Turun yliopisto.
Paivio, A. (1971) Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Paivio, A. & Begg, I. (1981) Psychology of language. Englewood Cliffs; N. J.: Prentice Hall.
Strømnes, F.J. (1973) A semiotic theory of imagery processes with experiments on an Indo-European and a Ural-Altaic language: Do speakers of different languages experience different cognitive worlds? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 14, 291-304.
Strømnes, F.J. (1974a) Memory models and language comprehension. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 15, 26-32.
Strømnes, F.J. (1974b) No universality of cognitive structures? Two experiments with almost perfect one-trial learning of translatable operators in a Ural-Altaic and an Indo-European language. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 15, 300-309.
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Strømnes, F.J. (1979) The problem of the image: can there be information in propositions. Communication, 4, 259-275.
Strømnes, F.J. and livonen, L. (1985) The teaching of the syntax of written language to deaf children knowing no syntax. Human Learning, 4, 251-265.
Strømnes, F.J., Johansson, A. & Hiltunen, E. (1982) The externalised image. A study showing differences correlating with language structure between pictorial structure in Ural-Altaic and Indo-European filmed versions of the same plays. Helsinki: The Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, Report No. 21.
Strømnes, F.J., Johansson, A., Hiltunen, E., Jännes, M. , Uosukainen, J. ja Takkinen, H, (1983) Pohjoismainen vertaileva kuvailmaisututkimus. Helsinki: Oy Yleisradio Ab, Sarja C: 2.
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