Evaluation of the Effect of Cognitive Bias Modification and Mental Imagery on Visual and Verbal Memory

The present study aims to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification and mental imagery on visual and verbal memory of female high school students in Yazd city.

The present experimental study was conducted based on a pretest-posttest pre-posttest design along with a control group. Four high schools from district 2 education of Yazd were selected by cluster sampling method and 15 students from each high school were randomly selected and placed into three experimental and a control group. Initially, all subjects were tested by Wechsler memory scale. The subjects were exposed to eight different educational sessions. The experimental groups included (Experimental group 1: Cognitive bias modification training group), (Experimental group 2: Mental imagery training group), and (Experimental groups 3: Cognitive bias modification and Mental imaging training). The control group had no intervention. After completing the experimental group training, the 4 groups were tested by the Wechsler memory scale.

cognitive bias modification training and mental imagery training significantly affected visual memory (P = 0.001, F = 24.264) and this effect was 57%, while the effect of cognitive bias modification training and mental imagery had a significant effect on verbal memory (P = 0.053, F = 2.7226) and had an effect of 13%. It is therefore confirmed that cognitive bias modification training and mental imagery enhance learners' visual and verbal memory performance.

Such interventions can have a significant contribution in learning, school efficiency, and medical clinical treatments.