chapter 9 defending your memory. copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved.9 | 2...

Chapter 9

Defending

Your Memory

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 9 | 2

What is the biggest impediment to academic success?

• Forgetting


Proof of the power of forgetting

• 46 percent of a chapter assignment forgotten in one day

• More than 90 percent of a lecture forgotten in two weeks


Workingmemory is a way station

• All information passes through it first

• It has two entrances: One for things you see, the other for things you say or hear

• Some is sent on to permanent storage in long-term memory


How arememories made permanent?

• Rehearsal is what makes memories stick

• Rehearsing means repeating or rewriting what you’ve read or heard

• It comes from a French word that means “to plow again”


Ways to fightback against forgetfulness

• Make an effort to remember

• Set the size and shape of your memories

• Work to strengthen memories

• Give your memories time to jell.


You can’tremember unless you try

• Pseudo forgetting: Failing to remember something you never learned in the first place

• Remembering for a reason: If your reason to remember is meaningful, forgetting is less likely.


Improving yourintention to remember

• Pay attention. Minimize distractions and focus on remembering

• Get your facts straight. Incorrect information is as easy to remember as correct

• Make sure you understand: If you don’t get it, you’re apt to forget it.


You can alsouse motivation to forget

• Restaurant servers clear the table of their memory once a party has left

• Albert Einstein kept rudimentary information from clogging his brain


G.A. Miller: The Magical Number 7 and your memory

• The short-term memory is limited to approximately seven items

• Those items may be clusters of information though


Memory span

• Long words are harder to remember than short ones


How to control the sizeand shape of your memories

• Limit what you choose to learn

• Organize information efficiently


The more you try to remember,the longer it takes... much longer

• Ebbinghaus found that it took 15 times longer to remember 12 syllables than it did to remember 6


How do you limitwhat you try to remember?

• Condense and summarize:

• Choose only the main ideas and leave the supporting materials behind


Patterns makeinformation manageable

• File folders in file cabinets and on computers

• Chapters in books

• Groupings in social security and phone numbers

• Shelves and sections in supermarkets


Patterns make information easier to remember as well

• Cluster information around memorable categories or headings


How to strengthen memories

• Make connections

• Use recitation


Connecting your memories

• Free-floating memories tend to drift away

• Memories with connections are apt to remain


Two kinds of connections

• Logical

• Artificial


Making logical connections

• Build on your background

• Master the basic courses

• Consciously link what you learn to what you already know

• Ask your instructor to explain a crucial linchpin point

• Strengthen memories with pictures

• Visualizing or drawing will use the right side of your brain


Making artificial connections

• A connection doesn’t have to be logical, just strong

• Loci method: Connects memories to physical locations


Mnemonic devices

• Classic mnemonics

• Build-it-yourself mnemonics


Using recitation to rehearse

• Recitation is the most important activity for strengthening memory


How to recite

• Read a passage or a line in your notes

• Repeat it from memory

• Use your own words

• Recite either out loud or on paper


Why recitation works

• It encourages participation

• It provides feedback

• It supplies motivation


Allowing memories to jell

• Information doesn’t instantly become memories

• Consolidation is needed

• Memories must be moved from short-term to long-term storage


Distributed practicevs. massed practice

• Distributed practice: Short study periods with regular breaks

• Massed practice: Continuous study, often until a task is completed


The advantagesof distributed practice

• Memory is allowed time for consolidation

• Regular “breathers” discourage fatigue

• Motivation is stronger in short time blocks

• “Boring” subjects are easier to take in small doses


When does massedpractice make sense?

• When great deals of information need to be fit together or juggled

• Example: The first draft of a research paper


Learning plateaus

• Progress isn’t constant or continuous

• “No progress” periods are discouraging but not unusual

chapter 9 defending your memory. copyright © houghton mifflin company. all rights reserved.9 | 2...

Documents

rudimentary information

wellcluster information

information easier

incorrect information

way stationall information

memories work

memories time

memories stickrehearsing