Memory
Improving Memory
Starter
• Think of as many reasons as possible as to
why psychologists might be interested in
techniques that improve memory…
…there’s a prize for whoever gets the most!
Learning Objective
• To understand a range of memory
improvement strategies.
Success Criteria
1. Make notes on verbal mnemonics, visual
imagery mnemonics and method of loci on
page 27 of your booklet.
Challenge Criteria Think about the strengths
and weaknesses of these strategies.
2. Have a go at using the memory improvement
strategies.
3. Evaluate memory improvement strategies on
page 28 of your booklet.
Remember this…
TVCIAOMNILTMSTMNASA
Recall the letters
Is this easier?
TV
CIA
OMNI
LTM
STM
NASA
•
Which method does this use?
Mnemonics
• Verbal Mnemonics
– Acronyms
• How do you remember the colours of the rainbow?
• ROYGBIV or Roy G. Biv
• Give me another example of an acronym
– Acrostics
• How do you remember the order of the planets?
• My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets
• Give me another example of an acrostic
Mnemonics
• Verbal Mnemonics
– Rhymes
• How do you remember the letters of the alphabet?
• A little song…
• “Twinkle, twinkle little star…”
– Chunking
• How do you remember your phone number?
• 0116 287 _ _ _ _
• What else do you chunk?
30 seconds to
memorise as many
objects as you can!
Write down as many
objects as you can in
one minute....
30 seconds to
memorise as many
objects as you
can!
Write down as many
objects as you can in
one minute....
There’s an object
missing from the
previous slide...what is
it???
What method did that
experiment use?
Organisation of material into categories
Tulving and Pearlstone (1966)
Mnemonics
• Visual Imagery Mnemonics
– The Method of Loci
– This method helps you remember things
by travelling through a familiar location.
– Remember this???
Mnemonics
• Visual Imagery Mnemonics
– The Method of Loci
– This method helps you remember things
by travelling through a familiar location.
– In each room there is an item and this
item is linked to a piece of information
– The more memorable (smelly, funny,
weird) the link, the more likely you are to
remember, and recall the information.
Activity
• Use the method of loci technique to
remember the multi-store model…
– Where are you travelling (your house, on your
way to school etc.)
– What items do you have to retrieve?
• This will really help with your revision.
Peg Words
•
I am going shopping and need to buy the
following items:
1. Fish
2. Carrots
3. Rice
4. Sausages
5. Oranges
6. Rice Krispies
7. Bread
8. Milk
9. Yogurt
10. Dog food
Peg Word
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Bun
Shoe
Tree
Door
Hive
Sticks
Heaven
Gate
Line
Hen
Fish
Carrots
Rice
Sausages
Oranges
Rice Krispies
Bread
Milk
Yogurt
Dog Food
Can you remember your
shopping?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Fish
Carrots
Rice
Sausages
Oranges
Rice Krispies
Bread
Milk
Yogurt
Dog food
The Narrative Chain
• This links words in a list together into a
sentence or a story. This disorganised
information is put into a meaningful context to
be coded semantically.
• By using the words and associating them with
each other you create a firmer connection
between the new words and those already
stored in your memory.
• This song is an example of a narrative chain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54m6X
OpRgU
The use of narrative chaining
• Bower and Clark (1969) asked participants in
their study to learn 12 lists of disconnected
words each containing 12 words. The
narrative group recalled 94% (135.4 on
average) of the words and the control group
recalled just 14% (20.2 words on average) of
the words. Therefore the method was better
than any other memorizing method used.
• Create your own narrative chain on page 27.
Evaluation Tasks
1. Fill in the blanks on page 28
2. Make notes on the role of organisation and
elaborative rehearsal on page 28
Evaluation
• Gruneberg (1973) found 30% of psychology students use
mnemonics to revise for final exams.
• Glidden et al (1983) found verbal mnemonics were
effective with children with learning disabilities.
• Most research has been conducted in labs. Studies in
real-life settings (e.g. classrooms) show mixed results,
for example, mnemonics are useful for teaching foreign
language vocabulary, but may not be so effective at
actually speaking in a foreign language.
• Mnemonics work through rehearsal and organisation.
• Organisation is also important, this helps the brain find the
information more quickly.
• Elaborative rehearsal is the process of giving something a
meaning, and strategies such as mind maps work well for
this.
Assessment for Learning
Alice is visiting the doctor. She needs to
remember all of the information that the
doctor tells her.
Outline TWO methods of memory
improvement that might help Alice, and
explain why they should improve recall.
[4 Marks]
Practice Exam Question
• Psychology students sometimes revise for
an exam by reading their notes over and
over again. However, psychologists
suggest that other memory improvement
strategies may be more effective. Explain
how a student could use their knowledge
of strategies for memory improvement
(other than repetition) to help revise for a
psychology exam.
(4 marks)
Mark Scheme