This study examined whether mnemonic training had an effect on working memory capacity. Two types of visual imagery mnemonic training, including Method of Loci and Body Hook, were adopted. The experimental group who received the mnemonic training was compared with the control group on six working memory tasks. Forty freshmen participated in this study. They were equally divided into the experiment and control groups. At first, all participants took the six working memory tasks, including Forward digits span, Backward digits span, Operation span, Reading span, Simple visuo-spatial span, and Spatial span tasks. A week later, both the experimental and control groups took a two-hour training course. The experimental group received training on imagery mnemonics, while the control group received the thinking method training unrelated to mnemonics.

A week after the training, all participants took the six working memory capacity tasks again. The result showed that the imagery mnemonic training increased the working memory capacity of reading span, simple visuo-spatial span and spatial span. These results indicated that working memory capacity enhanced by training. Imagery mnemonics made the storage of information more effective by using visual imagery and further increased the capacity of visual working memory.