Developing Your Memory
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You’re About to
Discover…
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Kevin Baxter
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p. 186-187
Memory Is Three-Part Process
Sensory Memory
Long-term Memory
Working (short-term) Memory
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Exercise 8.1:
Subjective Test
The Three R’s: Record, Retain, Retrieve
Much like a digital camera, your brain uses three processes
to remember information:
Record
Retain
Retrieve
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Exercise 8.2:
Memory Test
Sensory Memory: Focus
Sensory memory involves the input you receive from the outside
world. It includes:
•
•
•
Haptic memory (touch)
Echoic memory (sound)
Iconic memory (sight)
Just like a camera, you must
know how to focus:
1. Slow down; you move too fast.
2. Deal with it.
3. Notice where you go.
4. Watch for signals.
5. Get help if you need to.
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Working Memory: Record
Recording sensory impressions involves your short-term or
Working Memory.
Records things that have personal
meaning to you. Your working memory
• is relatively short-term
(about 2 minutes).
• has a limited capacity
(about 7 pieces of information).
“ ”
I have a photographic memory but once in a while
I forget to take off the lens cap.
Milton Berle, comedian
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Long-Term Memory:
Retain and Retrieve
sensory memory: focus
working memory: record
Then, you need to figure out what
needs to be stored and what can be
deleted—like you do when you
transfer photos from your camera’s
memory stick to your hard-drive.
long-term memory: retain and retrieve
“ ”
A memory is anything that happens and does not
completely unhappen.”
Edward de Bono, creative thinking expert
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Make It Stick
Rehearse.
Are your using elaborate rehearsal techniques?
Overlearn.
Are you working more than you think you need to so that
information becomes hardwired?
Space it out.
Are you working in shorter sessions, rather than cramming?
Separate it.
Are you separating similar material so you don’t get it confused?
Mind the Middle.
Are you paying attention to what comes in the middle, not just
what’s first and last?
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Elaborate or Simple?
Which of these 2 images are you more likely to remember?
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20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Make It Meaningful
Feel.
Emotions and memories can team
up in powerful ways.
Connect.
Connect new information with what
you already know.
Personalize.
Make new information mean
something to YOU.
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Make It Mnemonic
Spell.
Acronyms allow you to memorize lists by making up
phrases using first letters, for example.
Here is a popular one from geography:
My Great Big Hungry Elephant Nearly Consumed Panama =
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras , El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa
Rica, Panama
Locate.
The Loci (LO-si) system helps you connect places (or
locations) with what you need to remember.
Have you ever remembered the names of classmates by
where they sat?
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Make It Mnemonic
Link or Narrate.
By connecting item A with item B
and B with C, you can create a
series of mental linkages. Or build
what you need to remember into a
story.
Peg.
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
The peg system uses rhyming
syllables to associate images.
Think of pegs as hooks on which
to “hang” information.
20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Manipulate It
Mark it up.
Be an active reader; interact with the text.
Mark it down.
If it you don’t need to memorize it, just write it down.
Organize.
Rearrange the material you’re trying to memorize.
Picture.
Drawings can be an effective memory tool.
Act.
Consider putting motions to your memorizing.
Produce.
Put things in your own words.
Test.
Create practice exams for yourself.
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
20 Ways to Master Your Memory
Make It Funny
Mock it.
The best condition for learning is relaxed alertness—
high challenge, low threat.
Here are a few ways to make memorization fun:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Create a funny “Top-Ten” list.
Write a song.
Recite a poem.
Be imaginative.
Be bizarre.
Even be obscene!
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
How Our Memories
(uh…hummm…) Fail Us
1. Fading
2. Absentmindedness
3. Blocking
4. Mistaking
5. Inventing
6. Bias
7. Persistence
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Deepen Your Memory
Surface-level processing
Deep-level processing
just skims the surface.
goes deep.
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
VARK Activity
p. 205
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Chapter 8: Exercises and Activities
Chapter Exercise
p. 188
Subjective Memory Test
Chapter Exercise
p. 190
Test Your Memory
Audio
Chapter Summary
Focus TV:
Memory
Audio Summary of Chapter 8
Focus TV: Developing Your Memory
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Subjective Memory Test
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Exercise 8.1, p. 188
Test Your Memory
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Exercise 8.2, p. 190
Chapter 8 Audio Summary
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FOCUS TV
Memory
Focus TV
Discussion ?s
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Focus TV Discussion Questions
1. FOCUS Correspondent Greg Tuculescu has some memory problems, first
evidenced by all the strings he has tied around his fingers to help him
remember things. He even makes up a word, “rememberization,” during
his interview with Dr. Susan. In your view, what specific memory
problems does Greg have?
2. Many students have memory glitches during exams, such that what
they’ve studied seems to “disappear.” Have you ever had this problem?
Upon reflection, might it have been related to the way you studied?
3. It’s clear that our correspondent thinks cheating is standard practice is
college. (Of course, this portion of the episode is comedy; one of the
chapter’s recommendations to enhance memory is to “Make It Funny.”
But the episode does include a real visual warning about cheating.) Are
his views about how to dishonestly “enhance” your memory during tests
widespread among college students, and if so, how will this impact them
in their personal and professional futures?
© 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
FOCUS on Community
College Success
F CUSPoints
An Interactive Teaching Tool
FOCUS on COMMUNITY COLLEGE SUCCESS
Second Edition
Chapter 8
Constance Staley and Aren Moore
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