Paivio and the Dual Coding Theory

There must be something about McGill University. Daniel Levitin, who I’ve referenced several times in my blogs, is a professor there, and the next cognitive psychologist I’m about to introduce is an alum of the school!

I’d like you all to meet Dr Allan Urho Paivio, at least on paper. He was born in 1925 and passed last year in Ontario, Canada. He earned his PhD in Psychology from McGill University in 1959. Before delving into psychology, his passion was exercise. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, also at McGill, and went so far as wining the bodybuilding title, “Mr. Canada”. While McGill University conferred Dr. Paivio’s degrees, it wasn’t the school where he would teach. Instead, Dr. Paivio, found his place at the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario. I regret not learning about him while he was still alive. I’m sure he would have responded to at least one of my emails about his dual coding theory!

Ok, so dual coding theory. Where did I first hear about it? And, what is it?

I’ve been a clinician at Lindamood-Bell for over a year now. In our intensive training on teaching literacy and reading comprehension, Dr. Paivio’s name comes up quite a bit. Daily, we use both visual and auditory teaching methods to help our students recognize and spell words and later to create an image of something they have read which helps them to better comprehend what they have read.

If you’re familiar with the terms “learning styles”, “cognitive overload”, “AVK”, “TIPP”, or “Learning-Character Profile”, you have a good foundation to understand the dual coding theory.

While Dr. Paivio asserts that such a concept was known as early as 500BC, the term did not exist as a psychological or learning construct until the late 1950s when Dr. Paivio began to deconstruct its ideas. To put it plainly, the dual coding theory explains that learning happens best in the presence of both auditory and visual cues.

Continue reading about the dual code theory in my next blog.