Maximizing Your Memory

1. Maximizing Your Memory PASS 0900

2. Maximizing Your Memory • Definition • “Memory is an organism’s ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory)

3. Maximizing Your Memory Three Phases of Memory • Learning or encoding phase • Storage or retaining phase • Retrieval phase Source: Sprenger

4. 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

5. Maximizing Your Memory • The categories of memory relate to the duration of memory retention. • Sensory memory • Short term memory (temporary) • Long term memory (permanent) • Explicit memory (declarative) • Implicit memory (non-declarative) Source:, Sprenger, wikipedia

6. Maximizing Your Memory • 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

7. Maximizing Your Memory • 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. Source: Sousa, Sprenger, wikipedia

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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) Source: Sousa

11. Maximizing Your Memory • 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Maximizing Your Memory • 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

16. 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. Sources: Sprenger, wikipedia

17. 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!

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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. (Primacy-Recency Effect) • Distributed practice leads to better retention than does massed practice. Sources: Sousa, Thompson and Madigan

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.