1. the theory that linguistic input can be represented in memory in both verbal and visual formats. Concrete words that readily call to mind a picture, such as table or horse, are remembered better than abstract words, such as honesty or conscience, which do not readily call to mind a picture, because the concrete words are stored in two codes rather than one. [proposed by Canadian cognitive psychologist Allan U. Paivio (1925–  )]

2. the theory that linguistic knowledge in bilingual people is stored in two distinct codes. See coordinate bilingual.

3. a theory for explaining the relationship between imagery and performance that suggests there are two ways of gaining information about a skill: the motor channel for encoding human actions and the verbal channel for encoding speech. Using auditory imagery linked with visual imagery is suggested to be the most effective in performance enhancement.