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This study investigates a well-known mnemonic technique used to enhance serial recall, the Method of Loci (MoL). This technique involves associating items to be remembered with different locations in an imagined space. A proposed explanation for the effectiveness of MoL is that spatial localization reduces associative interference between items. However, there remains debate about whether spatial mechanisms are key to its effectiveness. We will test this by comparing recall performance using two techniques: MoL and a non-spatial memory strategy, Peg. We will also test whether the distinctiveness of environments improves the effectiveness of MoL.

Virtual Reality (VR) can mediate remote collaborative learning and can support pedagogical processes like paragogy. Within education, methods such as spaced repetition and memory palaces exist to support the cognitive process of remembering. We identify an opportunity to enhance learner-led collaborative paragogy involving these methods through immersive VR experiences. We present CleVR, a VR-mediated collaboration-based system that supports the memory palace and spaced repetition techniques. As an exploratory study, we aim to identify the applicability, viability and user perception for such a system combining these two techniques in VR. CleVR is a novel implementation which provides a location-driven metaphor to populate and present multiple resources related to a topic for peer-led exploration. We discuss the design and provide a prototype implementation of CleVR. We conducted two studies, a targeted expert user review and a broader proof of concept survey. The results of the studies show interesting outcomes, with the system described as 'engaging', 'useful' and 'fun'. Our findings provide insights to the potential of using Virtual Reality Learning Environments (VRLE) geared towards collaborative learner-led activities.

International audience; This essay focuses on the illustrations by German-born, polyglot artist Alastair (the nom de plume of Hans Henning Otto, Baron von Voigt [1887-1969]) for two editions of Wilde’s texts published in the 1920s: a 1920 version of the poem The Sphinx published by John Lane (a frontispiece, decorations, and nine full-page illustrations) and a 1928 version of the tale The Birthday of the Infanta published in Paris by The Black Sun Press/Éditions Narcisse (eight plates and a frontispiece). Alastair’s illustrated versions of Wilde’s texts testify to the enduring legacy of the Anglo-Irish author’s works in the twentieth century. What I first wish to show is that Alastair’s creations also hold up a mirror to Wilde’s texts themselves, which are imaginary reconstructions of worlds—the ancient world (The Sphinx) or the Spanish Golden Age (The Birthday of the Infanta)—and are based on a dialogue between visual and verbal images. The second part of this essay offers an analysis of the interpictorial networks upon which Alastair’s illustrations for The Sphinx and The Birthday of the Infanta are based: Alastair’s images are memory palaces which bear the traces of the influence of such fin-de-siècle graphic artists—and illustrators of Wilde—as Aubrey Beardsley and Charles Ricketts. A further focus is on how Alastair stages Wilde’s texts in his images, how he turns the illustrated book into a theatrical space and fosters an aesthetic of incongruity, hybridity and in-betweenness: a kitsch or camp aesthetic, characterised by a non-linear, “queer” temporality.; Cet article se propose d’analyser les illustrations de l’artiste polyglotte allemand Alastair (nom de plume de Hans Henning Otto, baron von Voigt [1887-1969]) pour deux éditions de textes de Wilde publiées dans les années 1920 : une version de 1920 du poème The Sphinx (La Sphinge) publiée par John Lane/The Bodley Head (un frontispice, des décorations et neuf illustrations en pleine page) et une édition de 1928 du conte The Birthday of the Infanta (L’Anniversaire de l’Infante) publiée à Paris par The Black Sun Press/Éditions Narcisse (huit planches et un frontispice). Ces versions illustrées des textes de Wilde témoignent de la postérité des œuvres de l’auteur anglo-irlandais au XXe siècle. Cet article s’emploie en premier lieu à montrer que les créations d’Alastair se font également le reflet des textes mêmes de Wilde, qui sont des reconstructions imaginaires de mondes anciens – l’antiquité dans The Sphinx, le Siècle d’or espagnol dans The Birthday of the Infanta – et se fondent sur un dialogue entre images visuelles et textuelles. Une deuxième partie est consacrée à l’analyse des réseaux interpicturaux sur lesquels Alastair s’appuie pour mettre en images The Sphinx et The Birthday of the Infanta : les planches d’Alastair sont des palais de mémoire qui portent la trace de l’influence d’illustrateurs fin-de-siècle de Wilde, comme Aubrey Beardsley ou Charles Ricketts. L’accent est enfin mis sur la façon dont Alastair met en scène les textes de Wilde dans ses images, sur la manière dont il fait du livre illustré un espace théâtral et donne naissance dans ses illustrations à une esthétique de l’incongruité, de l’hybridité et de l’entre-deux : une esthétique kitsch ou camp, qui se caractérise par une temporalité non-linéaire que l’on pourrait peut-être qualifier de « queer ».