Memory is a cognitive process by which information is retained about the past for later use. For anything to be remembered in the first place, the information needs to go through three stages of memory: encoding, storage and retrieval (Eysenck, 2015). Atkinson and Shiffrin’s multi-store working model shows us how the information flows through the memory system in a linear way. There are three different types of memory stores and they are sensory memory(SM), short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). (Atkinson & Shiffrin, 1968 cited in McLeod, 2009).Sensory memory receives and stores the information from the environment and through our senses very briefly. All of the information which we receive through our sight is known as “iconic” and the information which we receive through our hearing is known as “echoic”. Only the relevant information is then passed onto the short-term memory(STM). As the information disappears quickly through sensory memory, so in psychology most studies are focused mainly on STM and LTM. According to the study done by Baddeley, STM encodes acoustically(echoic). Miller(1956) reviewed research into the capacity of STM and found out that the capacity of STM is 7+/- 2 items. However, he also suggested that our capacity is improved through chunking. Peterson and Peterson(1959) studied on the duration of STM and found out that it lasts approximately for 18 seconds. Furthermore, to maintain the duration of items in the STM it must be rehearsed. Long-term memory holds information which is encoded semantically and it holds it for a long period of time and possibly forever. Previous study done by Paivio and Csapo (1969) on imagery and memory has stated that images are better recalled compared to words through his dual coding theory which shows that visual images and words are processed separately. Therefore according to his theory, images have an advantage over words stimuli as they are dually encoded by generating both verbal and image code, whereas word stimuli only generates a verbal code. All of the results from his experiments shows us superiority of images over words.Srivastava and Purohit(1979) who did an experiment on 48 Indian university students has also shown that images were better recalled compared to words in short-term retention. During the experiment, they produced some auditory distraction to the participants and during the recall, they found poorer recall both types of stimulus. However, they also found out that more decay effect was noticed for words than for images. The results were then interpreted in terms of dual coding model. This also provides an evidence for the existence of separate visual and acoustic storage systems.Furthermore, study done by Rusted and Coltheart (1979) tested a group of 9-10 year olds. On their experiment, children were required to read various descriptive passages which were presented with and without images. In both immediate and delayed recall, children were able to remember those passages more with the images on. The presence of images increased the recall of both pictorial and non pictorial features from the passages. Conventional wisdom amongst many memory theorists also holds that images are better remembered than words on recognition tests (e.g., Ally & Budson, 2007; Anderson, 2009; Brady, Konkle, Alvarez, & Oliva, 2008; Mintzer & Snodgrass, 1999; Nelson, Reed, & Walling, 1976; Shepard, 1967; Schacter, Israel, & Racine, 1999; Standing, 1973)Aim:The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of images with words versus words alone on memory recall.Experimental Hypothesis: People will recall images with words more significantly than words alone after a brief period of time. This is a one tailed hypothesis as it predicts that people will recall images with words more than just words alone.Null hypothesis: There will be no significant difference and any difference is due to chance.Justification for hypothesis: Based on several previous researches that experimented on the effectiveness of image with words vs words alone on memory recallMethod: Design: This will be an independent measure design as there will be 2 separate groups of 20 different participants in each group. The experiment will be conducted in a laboratory so that we can control all aspects i.e. noise, temperature of the room etc that might affect the results and performance of the participants. Independent variable influences change in the dependent variable which will be the use of either images with words or words alone. Dependent variable which depends on the independent variable will be the list of words recalled (memory performance).Participants:For my experiment, there will be 40 participants who will be separated in two groups – Group A & Group B (20 participants in each group). Group A will be given the list of words only and Group B will be given images with words to recall. A random sample from college will be selected for this experiment which will include both male and female within an age range of 18-30.Materials: Materials that I will be needing for this experiment is a computer and projector to show the powerpoint slides, powerpoint slides with images and words, pens and paper to recall the words, stopwatch for timer, informed consent form for participants (see appendix II), debriefing to provide at the end(see appendix III) and instruction sheet for the participants. I did pilot study to check that my materials and procedures worked smoothly and after piloting I have decided to use 10 words in total with 3 sec intervals between each slide and 1 minute for for the participants to recall. I have chosen non distinctive words and made sure words were not related to each other (see appendix I for word list).Procedure:Each participants will be given a copy of consent form before entering the room. As I will be using the laboratory for this experiment, the environment and all other factors will be controlled. Experiment will be conducted in the morning and participants will be given 5-10 minutes to relax and sign the consent form before starting. Once the consent form has been signed, they will be randomly selected into 2 groups (20 participants in each group). Health & Safety will be mentioned prior to the experiment. Participants will be asked to take a seat and both verbal and written instructions will be given. All needed materials would already be available on the table. Depending on the group, participants will be asked to either look at the slideshow with words or images with words on the powerpoint screen. Slides will be played in 3 sec interval and participants will then be given a minute to recall onto the sheet provided. Once the experiment is completed, debrief will be mentioned.Ethical issue: By complying with BPS guidelines, I will make sure that all participants must be at least of age 18 to take part in the experiment. I will repeat the informed consent form to make sure deception is avoided. They will be reminded that they have the right to withdraw at any time. Their identification will be kept strictly confidential. Room will be checked prior to the experiment for health & safety. Before starting the experiment, I will make sure to check their medical history to see if anyone has any serious illness. I will also make sure participants will experience no psychological harms. Lastly, making sure participants are fully debriefed at the end of the experiment.Reliability and validity: Many experiments have been repeated in the past with similar results which makes it reliable. To make this experiment valid, we are going to control all the factors by assessing both internal and external validity to make sure the experiment is testing on what it is suppose to.Handling results:Descriptive statistics: There are two key methods of dispersion: range and standard deviation. Range tells us the difference between the highest and the lowest value and is affected by anomalies. It does not indicate how scores relate to the mean. I will therefore be using standard deviation as a measure of dispersion because it measures how much scores deviates from the mean and it is more sensitive than a range. Like range, a higher standard deviation shows more variability in a set of data.Inferential statistics:I will be using Mann-Whitney U test to test the difference with my independent groups design. Null hypothesis can then be proven or rejected by doing calculation for Mann-Whitney U. All the results will be collected after the experiment and data will be interpreted onto a table first and then to a graph. I will be using line chart graph where x-axis will represent participants with image + words and words alone, y-axis will represent the number of words recalled. Once all the results are interpreted onto the graph, we can also analyze for possible primacy and recency effect.