Maximizing Your Memory
PASS 0900
1
Maximizing Your Memory
Definition
•“Memory is an organism’s
ability to store, retain, and
subsequently retrieve
information.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory)
2
Maximizing Your Memory
Three Phases of Memory
1. Learning or encoding phase
2. Storage or retaining phase
3. Retrieval phase
Source: Sprenger
3
Maximizing Your Memory
Problems can occur during any phase
Learning phase
• Lack of attention, focus or concentration
Storage phase
• Sleep deprivation, interruptions during storage
Retrieval phase
• Lack of appropriate cues or triggers, distortion
of information
Source: Sprenger
4
Maximizing Your Memory
 The categories of memory relate to the
duration of memory retention.
1. Sensory memory
2. Short term memory (temporary)
3. Long term memory (permanent)
 Explicit memory (declarative)
 Implicit memory (non-declarative)
Source:, Sprenger, wikipedia
5
Maximizing Your Memory
1. Sensory Memory
•
•
•
•
•
Information enters our brain through our senses.
(i.e. seeing, hearing, touching, etc.)
It is what is remembered in the initial 200−500
milliseconds after an event is perceived.
Operates subconsciously or consciously
It is where we put information briefly while we
decide what to do with it.
If information is determined to be unimportant it
drops out of the temporary memory system.
Source: Sprenger, wikipedia
6
Maximizing Your Memory
2. Short Term Memory
 The process by which sensory memory is held in
the brain and transfers to working memory.
 Working memory is like a computer screen, where
we work on something and eventually dispose of
it or save it elsewhere
 When exposed to new information our brains look
for “hooks” or previously established memories
related to the new information to increase the
likelihood of recall.
 Information can be retrieved for up to a minute
without rehearsal.
 Capacity very limited, stores between 5−9 items.
7
Maximizing Your Memory
A “chunk” is a “perceptual unit”. If the letters
are random, each letter is a “chunk” of
information. But if the letters are separated into
meaningful groups, each group becomes a
“chunk”:
Chunking can increase memory capacity.
The ideal size for chunking is 3 (whether
meaningful or not). Ex. Phone numbers, car tags,
street addresses, initials, pledge of allegiance.
Sources: Thompson & Madigan, wikipedia
8
Maximizing Your Memory
Four Factors Affecting Short Term
Memory are Important for Learning
• Interest
• Intent
• Understanding
• Prior Knowledge
Even without the others, having the “intent”
to learn can make the difference.
Source: Hopper
9
Maximizing Your Memory
 Time Limits of Short Term Working Memory
•
•
•
Adolescents and adults 10−20 minutes
After this time, focus drifts, fatigue, boredom
sets in
To maintain focus, you must change the way
you deal with the item. (i.e. switch from listening to
physically applying it, talk about it, make connections to other
learning)
10
Maximizing Your Memory
3. Long Term Memory
• Implicit Memory
 Memory that occurs without conscious effort.
More involved with feelings and “how to” rather
than “what”.
 Three types:
 Conditioned response
 Procedural memory
 Emotional memory
Sources: Sousa, Sprenger, Thompson and Madigan, wikipedia
11
Maximizing Your Memory
• Conditioned Response
Formed by repetition
Creates strong networks in the brain, lasting
memories
Some may require a trigger (MIC . . .)
Other may be automatic, i.e. singing the alphabet,
reciting multiplication facts, pledge of allegiance.
Use this memory type to help learn information
by using melodies, rhymes, metaphors, etc.
Source: Sprenger
12
Maximizing Your Memory
• Procedural Memory
Implicit-procedural memory deals with
knowing how rather than knowing what.
It is the learning of motor and cognitive skills,
automated procedures, i.e. driving a car, finding
our way to work, counting, math operations.
Procedural memory is enhanced by rote
rehearsal.
Sources: Sousa, Sprenger, Thompson & Madigan
13
Maximizing Your Memory
• Emotional Memory
The most powerful memory
Neutral experiences leave little to remember.
Experiences that stir emotions are remembered
longer. You remember what you FEEL.
Emotional memory accounts for our fears,
phobias, likes and dislikes.
Emotions affect attention, perception, decision
making and memory.
Sources: Sousa, Sprenger, Thompson & Madigan
14
Maximizing Your Memory
3. Long Term Memory
•
Explicit Memory
 Memory explicitly stored and saved, i.e. names,
facts, music, objects, events
 Two types:
• Episodic Memory
• Semantic Memory
Source: Sousa, wikipedia
15
Maximizing Your Memory
• Episodic Memory
The conscious memory of life events.
Is location and circumstance related.
To remember what you did last Saturday you
must remember where you were. This leads to
who you saw, what you said, what you felt, etc.
Importance for learning: Triggers can be used
to retrieve episodic memory, i.e. A student
looks at the whiteboard or the teacher,
visualizes the teacher explaining a problem
and triggers the memory of how to work the
problem.
16
Sources: Sprenger, wikipedia
Maximizing Your Memory
Implication for Students
Studying in the same location every
day will increase the connections
between new learning and
information which has already been
stored.
Provides TRIGGERS!
17
Maximizing Your Memory
•Semantic Memory
Knowledge of facts not related to any event.
Must be practiced or rehearsed for encoding.
(Learning dates, names, facts, etc.)
Must be consciously processed for retention.
Learning strategies for semantic information
include mnemonics, acronyms, creating
hooks, etc. (This is one reason faculty use seating charts,
identifying each student with a location.)
Sources: Sprenger, wikipedia
18
Maximizing Your Memory
Keys to Memory
Pay attention - intentionally stay focused
Visualization - create a visual in your mind,
the brain thinks in pictures and concepts, not
words
Association - find something to connect the
information to (hooks)
Imagination - get creative when visualizing
or making associations
Source: www.world-mysteries.com/sci_memory1.htm
19
Maximizing Your Memory
Enhance Memory and Increase Retention
• Rehearsal
Rote Rehearsal −When something needs to be
learned exactly, i.e. memorizing a poem, dates.
• More likely to remember if rehearsal is spaced
out over extended periods of time.
• Chunking aids memory and recall.
Elaborative Rehearsal − Information does not need
to be exact, more important to associate new ideas
with prior knowledge, make connections and assign
meaning, i.e. reading and discussing a novel.
• Goal of learning is not just to acquire knowledge,
but to use it in various settings that are relevant.
Source: Sousa ,Sprenger
20
Maximizing Your Memory
Forgetting and Degree of Learning
We remember best that which comes first,
second best that which comes last, and least
that which is in the middle. (PrimacyRecency Effect)
Distributed practice leads to better retention
than does massed practice.
21
Sources: Sousa, Thompson and Madigan
Maximizing Your Memory
Factors that Influence Memory
Aerobic exercise - increases the oxygen to the
brain
A healthy heart - the brain needs a good
supply of blood
Healthy diet and plenty of water
Sleep - the brain molds newly learned
information into lasting memories most
successfully while we rest.
Sources: Chrapko, Sprenger, www.memoryzine.com
22
Maximizing Your Memory
Factors that Influence Memory
Stress or depression - anxiety or
depression hampers memory
Mental exercise - keeping your mind active
Memory is enhanced by: color, pleasant
smells, space, movement, patterns,
repetition, connections, fun
Sources: Chrapko, Sprenger, www.memoryzine.com
23
The Mystery of Memory
The Basics to Remember!
• Memory is about making CONNECTIONS!
• Connections start with hooks and visual
images.
• Recall is determined by how well your
memories are connected and how many paths
you have made to that memory in the brain.
• Well worn paths provide better recall.
24
Maximizing Your Memory
Words of advice:
• Make your college experience about
LEARNING and having FUN while doing it.
• No one can take away from you the
KNOWLEDGE you gain from actively learning.
• The ultimate goal of college is not about grades
or even about degrees, it is about you learning
about your chosen field and become the BEST
you can be in what you love to do.
25
References
• Chrapko, Tonia. “Secrets of the Brain: the Mystery of Memory.” Science
Mysteries. 2004. 17 Nov 2009
<http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_memory1.htm>.
• Hooper, Carolyn, “Memory Principles.” Study Skills Memory Principles. 2003. 17
Nov 2009 <http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl/mem.html>.
• “Memory.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 11 Nov 2009
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory >.
• “Memory Fitness.” MemoryZine. 11 Nov 2009
<http://www.memoryzine.com/MF.htm>.
• Sousa, David A. (2008). How the Brain Learns Mathematics. California: Corwin Press,
Inc.
• Sprenger, Marilee B. (2003). Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory.
California: Corwin Press, Inc.
• Staley, Constance C. (2009). Focus on College Success. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.
• Thompson, Richard F. & Madigan, Stephen A. (2007). Memory: The Key to
Consciousness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
26