How Memory Works

1. How Memory Works Test taking Strategies

2. What is Memory? • Neural traces created in the brain • Linkages or connections between neurons • Chemical bond caused by strong association • Created by an initial sensory or emotional event • Sustained repetition of the event is what causes it to become stored in memory

3. The Three R’s of Memory • Registration • Retention • Recall

4. Registration • when something comes to your attention and has meaning for you • What you do with the info depends on your purpose • Look up a number to order a pizza vs. try to remember the number of your best friend

5. Retention • when you make a conscious decision to remember something. You must decide on how to make that happen. • Your goal is to retain the information for a long time.

6. Recall • in order to recall stored information you must use a memory storage technique that will make it likely for you to retrieve the information.

7. Short Term Memory • Short- term Memory- is where things are stored at the registration stage of remembering • If you don’t do something active with the information such as write it down, draw a picture, or say it out loud, it will be forgotten. • 7 plus or minus 1 items • Through rehearsal and review you can transfer the info to long term memory • The more often you review the information that is stored the greater the chances of being able to recall it easily and quickly.

8. Remembering Short Term Memory Transfer Rehearsal New facts Long-term Memory Short-term Memory No Rehearsal Forgetting

9. Forgetting • The importance of beginning the review/rehearsal process as soon as possible after something enters your short-term memory is very important. • If you don’t actively do something to create long-term memories you will forget most of what you encounter

10. Ebbinghaus Curve Percent Remembered 100% 75% 50% 25% 30 min 1 Hour 12 hours 1 day 10 days 1 Month

11. Multi-sensory Effect • The more senses you employe in ther rehearsal and review stages, the more you will remember. • Use these in conjunction with your many intelligences and give yourself a far better chance of embedding materials in your long-term memory.

12. You Remember… 20% read only 30% hear only 40% see only 50% say only 60% do only 90% of what you learn with many sensory learning activities Read, hear, see, say do

13. Recency and Primacy effects • Recency- you tend to remember things that happened most recently • Primacy- you have better recall for things that happen at the beginning of an event or situation

14. More effects • Grouping • Clustering • Organization • Link things you want to remember with something that is already in your brain Similarity effect Association Effect

15. Memory is a sensory process • Memory are strongly tied to visual images, sounds, and smells. • Also things in which you have a strong emotional connection are easily remembered. • The more intense the color, feeling, or smell the more likely you will never forget it.

16. Create Assocications Through Meaning • My Very Elegant Master Just Served Up Nine Pineapples • Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto • Use acronymic sentences the brain is trained to store and recall patterns of language

17. Weirdness Effect • You are most likely to remember things that are unusual, outrageous or out of place. • When things stand out they are memorable

18. Specificity Effect • Words that are specific or definiteare easier to learn rather than words that are elusive or intangible

19. Repetition Effect • The more you repeat what you want to embed in long-term memory, the better you will remember it. • You must drill in the things you want to remember

20. Improving Your Memory for Studying • Relax- be free from stress • Be active with material- teach someone it, make up a rhyme, write key ideas in your own words, draw a picture, make mental connections to something you already know, review it backwards- work with the material • Use your Multiple Intelligences • Use smaller chunks of time on different tasks

21. Improving Memory (cont.) • Chunk material- organize it into smaller groups so it is easier to store and retrieve • Create strong associations (sensory and emotional) • Practice output- quiz yourself, have some quiz you, take a practice quiz on paper or on the computer (under time pressure); make up your own essay or multiple choice questions. Use Quizlet! • Review Early and regularly

22. The impact of Review • You can increase your memory of a 3 hour lecture by up to 500% by using 3 minute review sessions • Immediately after lecture, within 1 hour, one day, one week, one month, two months, etc. • This will change the normal forgetting curve

23. Develop Basic Memory Aids • Make flash cards • Make mind maps • Create mnemonic devices • Make rhymes, rhythms, and songs • Practice, practice, practice! • Sleep on it- sleep is a necessary component to good memory. What you review immediately before you go to sleep is what you brain filesmosteffeciently