Adit Garg Week 13: How People take Advantage of the Phonological Loop
The phonological loop is one of the most important aspects of the working memory model. It is an area where verbal information is pre-stored combined with a rehearsal mechanism. In simple terms, some verbal information that is received is repeated in the brain several times, and the result is that the information becomes more memorable. Because of this, it would be preferable for information that we give out to bounce around in the phonological loop. But how do we do this?
Take a look at some of the most prominent and memorable company names: Coca-Cola, Bed Bath and Beyond, M & M, Paypal, Google, and Samsung. Can you see the main similarity behind all of these names? The answer is alliteration. The reason why some words/phrases stick better with us is that the information is bouncing around the phonological loop and the key is to create the repetition. The number one way to make words/phrases bounce around the phonological phrase is using alliteration.
However, the phonological loop is not limited to names, it is present in the actual construction of sentences as well. Just look at the most famous quotes today. "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall" -Nelson Mandela. "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn" -Benjamin Franklin. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" -Franklin D. Roosevelt. Alliteration is persistent in each of these quotes, so it is not surprising that these sentences are referred to decades later today.
Hi Adit! I have never heard of the phonological loop despite taking psych, but it is interesting how it works. Despite hearing these famous quotes and seeing brand names on a daily basis, I never considered that all of them use alliteration/repetition/parallelism even when its so blatantly obvious. The funny thing is, I analyze these things in most of my rhetorical papers and homework more than any other rhetorical device because politicians and marketing techniques use it so much. I guess I have noticed it but just didn't put the pieces together. Since I am (hopefully) going to be a business major, I will keep this information in mind.
ReplyDeleteHello Adit. After reading your blog on phonological loops, a lot of the most popular and famous sayings and brands sudden make sense. I guess I just never connected the dots, but what you are saying makes absolute sense in terms of memory. I do remember these sayings that utilize such repetition in their wording: their usage of alliteration are extremely important for my memory. Even all this rhetorical analysis we do every single day, even that one time we did analysis on brands, and I still did not know about this phenomenon. I will remember this in the future: thank you for writing about such an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit, I love that you connect rhetorical devices to the idea of memory. I never realized why all these major brands and famous quotes used so much alliteration, but your explanation of this makes a lot more sense. A few other brands I can think of is Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, and Lulu Lemon. A quote that I first thought of when I read your post was "I came, I saw, I conquered" said by Julius Caesar. Another one is the quote you mentioned by Franklin D. Roosevelt. it really shows the way our mind stores memory, and how it can more effectively store memory with rhetorical devices and other literary aid. Thank you for this interesting post, and I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit, I really enjoyed reading your blog, especially because I had not heard of the phonological loop before. I never really pondered why so many popular brand names use alliteration, but now after your explanation of the phonological loop, it makes perfect sense that marketers and companies would try to make their products more memorable by utilizing psychology and the way our brain remembers something. As we engaged in rhetorical analysis a lot in this class, I have always wondered what the impact of alliteration truly is. Your blog helped me realize that alliteration is actually a key rhetorical device that can help people remember the information they are reading more prominently. I wonder in what other ways companies take advantage of the way our brains work to serve their purpose.
ReplyDeleteHey Adit, your blog post makes a really interesting connection from the actual anatomy and biology of the human brain and the efficacy of some rhetorical devices, which I find really incredible. Throughout the school year, I had been analyzing alliteration as a rhetorical device, reflecting on how it allowed readers to better remember and emphatically understand certain messages and topics. I didn't even consider that there would be an actual psychological reason as to how this worked. Now that I better understand how this phenomenon actually impacts the brain, it has really changed the way I understand rhetorical devices like repetition and alliteration, which assist readers and the audience in recalling and understanding a message. This ties in pretty well with things like the serial position effect, as some organizational structures of writing seem to establish stronger points at the end and beginning to help people remember the key discussion and persuasion points.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! It seems interesting to realize that there is a verbal recognizer that is stored within our mind when it comes to restoring information that is ingrained within our mind. The action of having information travel and bounce to various parts of your brain is particularly fascinating because this is the mechanism that creates the repetition in our brains, just like literary devices like alliteration work in our brain. The connection you made between alliteration and the concrete structure of our brain is very thought provoking to think about since it is seen across English literature as a common advanced writing technique. I would also like to learn to better incorporate this into my writing style moving forward because it enhances the progression of the sentences being written. The relation you drew between these two is definitely very interesting to think about, thank you so much for your blog and I hope to read more!
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! I thought the connection you made between phonological loops and branding was fascinating. It does make sense that companies want to keep their names relatively short so that they remain memorable in the minds of consumers. Nonetheless it was surprising to see how many companies had these repetitive sounds in their names and how that does sound more memorable as a result. The indirect connection between a part of our memory process and our language is definitely an interesting relationship. I suppose that's why so many people find repetitive language to be so effective at getting a message across.
ReplyDeleteHi Adit! Alliteration is quite common in marketing as well as media. Saying alliterative letters is quite fun and really rolls off the tongue. It seems like something intuitive which is why it's interesting that it is something hardwired into us. I wonder what in evolution caused this trait to form. I guess that's also why repetition as a rhetorical device is so effective! Thank you for sharing, the field of psychology is so vast and there's always new things to learn.
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