Back in 1971, Allan Paivio, a native Canadian, introduced his Dual Coding Theory at the University of Western Ontario. His theory was based upon the assumption that, since we mentally process images differently than we do verbal or written information, we learn more easily when we can also imagine information in terms of images. If we’re learning a foreign language, for instance, and trying to memorize a word like “Hund,” the German word for “dog,” if we imagine a scruffy dog ​​​​at the same time, our brain then will create two different “representations,” as Paivio has termed them, for a single piece of information. When we later try to recall this learned piece of information back into memory, we can activate both of the information channels, and this allows us to recall the information more quickly.

We employ this theory at the bikablo akademie as well, when, in our discussions with others, we translate ideas, aspects, and details into small sketchnotes, consisting of text and images. We refer to these as “thought sketches” or “sketchnoting in dialogue.” When we do this, the following happens: