MEMORY AND RELATED LEARNING PRINCIPLES
Memory and related learning principles
The Principles of Short-Term and Long-Term Memory. This principle of
long-term memory may well be at work when you recite or write the
ideas and facts that you read. As you recite or write you are holding each idea
in mind for the four or five seconds that are needed for the temporary memory to
be converted into a permanent one. In other words, the few minutes that it takes
for you to review and think about what you are trying to learn is the
minimum length of time that neuroscientists believe is necessary to allow
thought to go into a lasting, more easily retrievable memory.
Recognition is an easier stage of memory than the recall stage.
For example, in an examination, it is much easier to recognize an answer
to a question if five options are listed, than to recall the answer
without the options listed. But getting beyond just recognizing the correct
answer when you see it is usually necessary for long-term memory, for the more
we can recall about information the better we usually remember it.
Understanding New Material. First and most important, you must make
sure that you understand new material before trying to remember it. A good
technique to ensure understanding is to recite or write the author's ideas in
your own words. If you cannot, then you do not understand them. The
conclusion: you cannot remember what you do not understand. In other words, you
cannot form a clear and correct memory trace from a fuzzy, poorly understood
concept.
In the classroom, do not hesitate to ask the instructor to explain further a
point that is not clear to you. If the point is unclear to you, there is a good
chance that it is unclear to others, so you will not be wasting anyone's time.
Furthermore, most instructors appreciate the opportunity to answer questions.
Getting it right the first time. We have learned that all remembering
depends on forming an original, clear neural trace in the brain in the first
place. These initial impressions are vitally important because the mind clings
just as tenaciously to incorrect impressions as it does to correct impressions.
Then we have to unlearn and relearn. Incorrect information is so widespread that
Mark Twain once wrote, "Education consists mainly in what we have
unlearned."
Evaluate the Learning. Another way to improve retention is through
evaluation. After you have studied, work the matter over in your mind. Examine
and analyze it; become familiar with it like a friend. Use comparison or
contrast: how is this topic like or different from related topics? If the
learning concerns things conjectural, do you tend to agree or disagree? Are
there aspects of the subject which you can criticize? Analytical thinking
encourages you to consider the matter from various aspects and this kind of
mental manipulation makes you more knowledgeable. For all these reasons, recall
is significantly improved.
The Principle of Over learning.
After you have recited a lesson long enough to say it perfectly, if you
continue reciting it a few times more, you will over learn it. A well known
psychologist and researcher, Ebbinghaus, has reported that each additional
recitation (after you really know the material) engraves the mental trace deeper
and deeper, thus establishing a base for long-term retention. For many people
over learning is difficult to practice because, by the time they achieve bare
mastery, there is little time left and they are eager to drop the subject and go
on to something else. But reciting the material even just one more time
significantly increases retention, so try to remember this and utilize the
technique when you can.
The Principle of Recitation
There is no principle that is more important or more effective than recitation
for transferring material from the short-term memory to the long-term
memory. For one thing, you are obviously in the process of repeating the
information. Recitation can take several forms -- thinking about it, writing it
out, or saying it out loud. "Thinking about it" is potentially the
least effective because it gives us the least amount of reinforcement since
writing or speaking involve more electrical muscle movement messages to the
brain which are known to increase mental response and recording. Vocal, "out loud"
recitation is usually the most effective single technique for review because it
employs more of the senses than any other review technique (utilizing both
auditory and vocal senses.) If, for example, when reviewing your notes
immediately after class the reviewing is done by vocal recitation, you will not
only be consolidating the new information but also strengthening the neural
traces made to your brain.
What is recitation? Recitation is simply saying aloud the ideas that
you want to remember. For example, after you have gathered your information in
note form and have categorized and clustered your items, you recite them. Here's
how: you cover your notes, then recite aloud the covered material. After
reciting, expose the notes and check for accuracy. You should not attempt to
recite the material word for word; rather your reciting should be in the words
and manner that you would ordinarily use if you were explaining the material to
a friend. When you can say it, then you know it. (This is why it is best
NOT to recite directly from the text.)
How recitation works. Recitation transfers material to the secondary
or long-term memory. While you are reading the words in a sentence or paragraph,
the primary memory (short-term memory) holds them in mind long enough for
you to gain the sense of the sentence or paragraph. However, the primary memory
has a very limited capacity, and as you continue to read, you displace the words
and ideas of the initial paragraphs with the words of subsequent paragraphs.
This is one reason for not remembering everything in the first part of the
chapter by the time we reach the end of the chapter when we read continually
without taking a break or taking time to review what we have already read.
It is only when we recite or contemplate the idea conveyed by a
sentence or paragraph that the idea has a chance (not guaranteed) of moving on
into the secondary memory (a long-term storage facility).
All verbal information goes first into the primary memory (short-term
memory). When it is rehearsed (recited), part of it goes into our secondary
(long-term) memory. The rest of it, usually the part we are least interested in,
returns to the primary memory and is then forgotten.
Whether new information is "stored" or "dumped" depends,
then, on our reciting it out loud and on our interest in the information.
| After this number of days |
The amount remembered by students who did no review was |
The amount remembered by students who reviewed was |
| 7 |
33% |
83% |
| 63 |
14% |
70% |
Remembering. As a student, one of your main concerns is to retain old learning's
while you continue to acquire new ones. Do we remember more when we
begin to study a subject or after we already know something about it? According
to several recent studies, learning which involves memorization of a unit of
material begins slowly, then goes faster, and finally levels off. In other
words, the amount learned per unit of time is small at first, then increases,
and then becomes small again. This finding contrasts with older studies which
showed that learning was rapid at first, then became slower until it leveled
off.
Even though a person continues to study, he may expect to encounter periods
when there seems to be little or no gain. Such plateaus in learning may
be due to several causes such as fatigue, loss of interest, or diminishing
returns from using the same inefficient methods. Another explanation of plateaus
is that they represent pauses between stages of understanding; when the
student acquires a new insight, he can move on. Sometimes the lower stage of an
understanding or a skill may actually interfere with progress to a higher
level. For example, learning to read by individual letters of the alphabet
interferes with learning to read by words. Learning to read word-by-word delays
reading by phrases or sentences.
The important thing is to recognize that plateaus or periods of slow learning
are inevitable, and they should not discourage the student unduly. Learning may
still be taking place, but at a slower pace. Recognizing that he is at a
plateau, the student should first try to analyze and improve his study methods,
if possible. Sometimes, however, an incorrect mental set may be interfering with
the necessary perception of new relationships. Sometimes slow learning may
simply be due to fatigue. In either of these circumstances the most efficient
procedure may be to drop the activity temporarily and return to it later, after
a good night's rest.
The rate at which a student learns depends upon his learning ability, but
slow learners remember just as well as fast learners, provided that they have
learned the material equally well. The reason a bright student may do better on
examinations is that he has learned the subject matter more effectively within
the time available. But if a slower student spends enough time on his studies,
he can retain every bit as much as the faster student. Fortunately, there is
evidence that both rate of learning and rate of retention can be improved with
practice.
The Principle of Neuro-Transmitter Depletion
Often students study or attempt to read for too long a period of time without
stopping for a rest break. B.F. Skinner and other experts have concluded that
the average student cannot usually study really difficult material efficiently
for more than about four hours a day. Then efficiency and memory begin to
suffer. Research shows that the average student cannot study effectively on the
same subject for more than about four consecutive hours, even with short breaks
every hour. What occurs is what is referred to as The Principle of Neuro-Transmitter
Depletion. Neuro-scientists have developed techniques to monitor activity
(usually defined as electrical impulses) and chemical changes in the brain
during study or thought processing. If one studies the same subject too long,
fatigue, boredom, sometimes slight disorientation may occur. It is a common
result of too much consecutive study when even the most simple concept begins
not to make sense any longer. The monitoring of brain activity and chemical
changes indicate that studying too long results in a depletion of chemicals in
the brain cells necessary for efficient processing of information. Therefore,
for effective consolidation of material into memory storage, take frequent
breaks (at least 10 minutes every hour) and do not attempt to deal with really
difficult material for more than about four hours a day, and do not study any
easier subject area (even with breaks) for more than four consecutive hours.
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Human Memory The Science
Theories and Processes underlying
memory, memorization improvement are a few basic concepts. Although we will not
go into extensive detail about theories of memory, we will present some of the
basic ideas to help you understand why certain techniques work.
Brain mind memory encoding, storage, retention,
and retrieval
Understand your brains natural
memory rhythms and take advantage of them to improve your memory, memorization
skills and enhance your learning capabilities.
Memory memorization and related
learning principles
Improving memory - memory enhancing techniques
methods for improved memorization
An Empirical Investigation Into the Effect of
Beta Frequency Binaural Beat Audio Signals on Four Measures of Human Memory
Memory and related learning
principles
Mnemonic Techniques and Specific Memory
Tricks to Improve memory and memorization techniques Tricks
to improve memory and memorization
Generic Long Term Memory memorization
Hermann Ebbinghaus- Memory learning
memorization maximizing recall retention
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